Judge denies Manafort’s Hail Mary

A FEDERAL JUDGE on Tuesday rejected ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s long-shot request to throw out all charges against him, effectively clearing the way for his case to go to trial.

Manafort, who faces a laundry list of charges, including conspiracy against the U.S., bank and wire fraud, has argued his indictment is the product of an overzealous special prosecutor who overstepped his investigative scope by looking into his past business dealing in Ukraine.

But U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson struck down Manafort’s argument Tuesday.

“The indictment falls squarely within that portion of the authority granted to the Special Counsel that Manafort finds unobjectionable: the order to investigate ‘any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign,’” the Washington, D.C., judge wrote, quoting Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s appointment of Mueller last May.

Manafort, 69, headed President Trump’s campaign between June and August 2016.

He is slated to stand trial this September.