Judge Questions Motives and Honesty of Mueller’s Investigation of Paul Manafort

US District Court Judge, T.S. Ellis, III told Mueller’s prosecutors that he knew they were not really interested in possible bank fraud committed by Paul Manafort but were just trying to force him to testify against Donald Trump. In other words, if Manafort can be frightened into thinking he will go to prison for the rest of his life on bank-fraud charges dating back to before he worked for Trump as his campaign manager, and if he is offered leniency in return for testimony that would incriminate Donald Trump in the Russian-collusion probe, the chances are good that Manfort would say anything to avoid prison even if it were not true. In a separate case, Manafort is facing trial in Washington, DC before the Obama-appointed Judge, Amy Berman Jackson. Mueller’s prosecutors are determined to use Manafort as the path to destroy Trump. -GEG

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s “Russia Investigation” may be facing its most significant push-back yet Friday when federal Judge Thomas Ellis questioned Mueller’s prosecutors fundamental authority, motives, and honesty in a pre-trial hearing for one-time Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

“C’mon man!” Ellis reportedly exclaimed to Mueller’s prosecutors, telling them later, “We don’t want anyone with unfettered power.”

Ellis called out Mueller’s lawyers on their motive in prosecuting Manafort for crimes that allegedly occurred long before the 2016 campaign. “You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort,” he said. “You really care about what information Mr. Manafort can give you to lead you to Mr. Trump and an impeachment, or whatever.”

Manafort is indicted for money laundering and tax fraud in the Eastern District of Virginia, the subject of Friday’s hearing with Ellis. He also stands accused in the District of Columbia of financial crimes to his activities as a lobbyist and surrogate for foreign leaders, including ousted Ukrainian President Victor Yanokovych, years before he joined the Trump campaign. One of the crimes with which he is charged, violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), has resulted in only one conviction in its more than five decades on the books.

Friday’s hearing was an attempt by Manafort’s lawyers to question Mueller’s office’s authority to bring all these charges against their client as it was outside the stated scope of their investigation. According to the document that appointed Mueller as special counsel, he has authority to investigate:

(i) any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and
(ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; and
(iii) any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R. §600.4(a) [a regulation that expands a special counsel’s jurisdiction to crimes, such as perjury or obstruction of justice, that interfere with his investigation]

Because of Manafort’s lawyers efforts last month, we now know there is another, more detailed memo drafted by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and hidden from public view that lays out the Mueller probes scope with more specificity. A heavily redacted version came to light as result of proceedings leading up to Friday’s hearings.

The Reagan-appointed Judge Ellis slammed Mueller’s lawyers on their reliance on and evasiveness about this “Scope Memo,” which they refuse to hand over. He characterized their attitude as, “We said this was what [the] investigation was about, but we are not bound by it and we were lying.”

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