Trump’s ex-campaign chief to seek dismissal of charges
MANAFORT WAS TO CONVINCE A JUDGE TO THROW OUT CHARGES BROUGHT BY MUELLER
Paul Manafort, US President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, was scheduled yesterday to convince a judge to throw out charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, arguing Mueller has overstepped his authority.
Manafort, hit with two indictments accusing him of conspiracy against the United States and other crimes, backed away from an earlier request to the same judge for dismissal of the special counsel’s charges during an April 4 hearing in a related civil lawsuit. Yesterday, Manafort’s attorney Kevin Downing was expected to tell US District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson during a hearing in Washington that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s order in May 2017 appointing Mueller was overly broad, and that Mueller’s case falls outside the boundaries of what he was permitted to investigate.
The hearing gives Manafort a chance to seek dismissal of charges in an indictment against him in Washington before the case can go to trial in September. That indictment charged him with offences including conspiring to launder money and failing to register as a foreign agent in connection with his lobbying for the Ukrainian government under pro-Russian former President Viktor Yanukovych.
The other indictment, in Alexandria, Virginia, charges Manafort with bank fraud and filing false tax returns, among other offenses. Manafort’s lawyer is set to ask for a dismissal of those charges in May. Both indictments arose from Mueller’s investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election. Manafort is expected to have two separate criminal trials, with the Virginia one starting in July.
Trump suggested on Wednesday that he is in no hurry to fire either Mueller or Rosenstein, and asserted again that the inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election is part of “a hoax.”
“They’ve been saying I’m going to get rid of them for the last three months, four months, five months, and they’re still here,” Trump said. “So we want to get the investigation over with, done with, put it behind us.”
Additional sanctions
Trump also said he would impose additional sanctions on Russia when needed, and bristled at the notion that he had backed away from a new round of penalties associated with alleged Russian help for Syrian chemical weapons production.
“We’ll do the sanctions when they very much deserve it,” Trump said.
“There’s been nobody tougher on Russia than President Donald Trump.”
UN ambassador Nikki Haley had announced the penalties Sunday, saying they would be rolled out the following day. No sanctions came, and the White House later said Haley’s remark was in error. The awkward episode continued Tuesday, with a White House official saying Haley may have been confused, and the blunt US diplomat disputing that characterisation.
Trump complained that his actions to counter Russian aggression in Europe and the Mideast have been ignored, and for “the media” nothing he says or does about Russia will be considered strong enough.
Trump’s frustration at the months-long probe led by Mueller was evident. He was asked whether he had concluded that the political fallout from firing Mueller would be too great. Trump has mused about taking that step, but many Republicans have urged him not to.
Before Trump answered the specific question, he spouted a stream of familiar complaints.
Trump repeatedly asserted there was “no collusion” between his presidential campaign and Russia and said “no one has been more transparent” than he in cooperating with the federal investigation.