Manafort team told to shut up

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S former campaign chairman has to keep a lid on it.

The federal judge presiding over the high-profile case against Paul Manafort effectively issued a gag order on Wednesday, restricting public comments by attorneys and witnesses in the case.

The directive discourages statements to the media, but doesn’t necessarily ban lawyers from making them outright.

Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson urged lawyers to “refrain from making statements to the media or in public settings.”

“This is a criminal trial, and it’s not a public relations campaign,” the judge warned last week.

Manafort, who led Trump’s campaign for several months last year, and his business associate Rick Gates were charged Oct. 30 by special counsel Robert Mueller in a 12-count federal indictment accusing them of having laundered tens of millions of dollars made overseas. Both have pleaded not guilty.