Washington - A federal judge on Tuesday
delayed setting a trial date for President Donald Trump's former
campaign manager Paul Manafort, who faces charges stemming from
the special counsel's probe of allegations of Russian
interference in the U.S. presidential election.
Defense lawyers said the government has still not yet
produced all of the evidence it has gathered, and they need more
time to pore through it and file the necessary motions.
The government had sought for a May start to the trial. But
Judge Amy Berman Jackson said at Tuesday's hearing in the U.S.
District Court for the District of Columbia that a trial for
Manafort and his business partner Richard Gates might not start
until the fall of 2018.
"We have limited resources," Manafort's attorney Kevin
Downing said Tuesday. "We're not big law firms."
Manafort and Gates face charges that include failing to
register as foreign agents for political work they did for a
pro-Russia Ukrainian political party, as well as conspiracy to
launder money and conspiracy against the United States.
Federal prosecutors said Tuesday they expect they will need
at least three weeks to present their case to a jury. This will
ensure continuing news coverage of the probe by Special Counsel
Robert Mueller, which the Trump administration has repeatedly
sought to discredit.
Trump has denied there was any collusion and Russia has
denied meddling in the election.
Manafort, for his part, has also adamantly denied any
wrongdoing.
Earlier this month, his lawyers took the unusual step of
filing a civil lawsuit against Mueller, Deputy Attorney General
Rod Rosenstein and the Justice Department, accusing them of
legal overreach. The suit asks that the indictment
be dismissed because it alleges conduct that falls outside the
bounds of what Mueller is permitted to investigate.
Prosecutors said Tuesday they intend to file a motion by
Feb. 2 to have that civil case dismissed on the grounds that the
issues it raises should be addressed in the criminal case.
Meanwhile, the judge gave Manafort and Gates until Feb. 23
to file motions that seek to address alleged defects in the
criminal case.
The next status conference in the case will occur on Feb.
14.
Reuters