Judge Amy Berman Jackson reportedly has rejected Special Counsel Robert Mueller's proposed May 14th start date for Paul Manafort and Rick Gates' trial, indicating it likely would not begin until September at the earliest.
The timeline emerging from an hour-long hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson raises the possibility that Manafort and colleague Rick Gates could go on trial at the height of the mid-term campaign season, making an already unwelcome distraction for the White House and Republicans even more uncomfortable.
Jackson indicated that with hundreds of thousands of documents and electronic files turned over to the defense as recently as Friday, it was unrealistic to proceed with the May 14 trial date prosecutors proposed last week.
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All the reasons that Jackson decided against a trial in the spring were not clear, as much of the discussion on the scheduling issue was held at the judge's bench, with a noise machine turned on to prevent those in the gallery from hearing what the lawyers and the judge were saying.
Both Manafort and Gates were in the courtroom for the first hearing of the year. During the lengthy sidebar discussion, the two men chatted across the defense table, with Manafort using his hand to try to maintain the privacy of their conversation from the dozens of reporters, FBI personnel and others watching the hearing.
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Both the defendants remain in home confinement, although there were indications that Gates might be formally released from those restrictions as soon as Tuesday afternoon. During a tense exchange with Jackson, [one of Manafort's attorneys, Kevin] Downing said Manafort has had difficulty fulfilling the requirements for release.
Jackson set another hearing on Feb. 14 for scheduling, at which time she could set a trial date. She also set a hearing for April 17 to take up defense motions aimed at knocking out some or all of the government's charges.
Read more: Manafort trial likely to start in September at the earliest (Politico)