New York Post

Mueller brings dozens of new raps against Manafort, partner

- Bob Fredericks

Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his business partner were slapped with a slew of new tax- and bank-fraud charges by special counsel Robert Mueller on Thursday.

The 32-count indictment against Manafort and Rick Gates had been expected, according to The Washington Post.

Manafort was President Trump’s campaign chair from June to August 2016, and Gates also worked for the Trump campaign.

The filing came a week after federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson chided both parties for what she called “unacceptab­le delays” in the case — which still doesn’t have a trial date set, the paper reported.

The two men were slapped with a 12-count indictment last October in the first criminal charges in Mueller’s probe of Russian meddling in the US election.

Trump has adamantly denied colluding with the Russians — 13 of whom were indicted last Friday in a sophistica­ted scheme to sabotage the 2016 election — calling the case “a hoax,” “fake news” and a “witch hunt.”

The initial indictment involved financial transactio­ns covering work by Manafort and Gates for a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party, and their failure to tell the feds they were working as lobbyists for a foreign government.

Three of Gates’ lawyers have asked to quit his legal team, and The Daily Beast reported he has fired the one remaining, ending speculatio­n that he might have been close to a plea deal. The lawyer denies the report.

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