Manafort asks judge to investigate leaks

Paul Manafort, the indicted former campaign chairman for Donald Trump, asked a judge to investigate leaks to the media of confidential grand jury information that may have also been classified.

Manafort, who faces two federal indictments, seeks a hearing about the source of leaked information that he said interferes with his right to a fair trial in Alexandria, Virginia, where Special Counsel Robert Mueller signed an indictment accusing him of bank and tax fraud. He’s also accused in Washington of money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent for his political consulting in Ukraine.

The leakers have subjected Manafort, 69, to “a torrent of negative and apparently false press generated by numerous unlawful disclosures,” according to a filing late Monday in federal court in Alexandria.

“These government-sourced disclosures have violated the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, internal government policies and procedures, federal statutes, and Mr. Manafort’s constitutional rights.” Manafort’s request that US District Judge T.S. Ellis III hold a hearing comes as Trump, Republican leaders, and conservative media have repeatedly criticised former FBI Director James Comey and his exdeputy, Andrew McCabe, for leaks during the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.