A Washington judge has set a trial date of Sept. 17 for Paul Manafort, just weeks before the 2018 midterm elections.
On Wednesday, Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort pleaded not guilty to a new indictment brought against him in the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election and will face trial in September.
Manafort’s trial is expected to last for several weeks, and could stretch on through November’s midterm elections - making headlines at a time when Republicans are fighting to maintain their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, according to Reuters.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson also reprimanded the former Trump campaign manager for issuing a statement on former co-worker Richard Gates" recent guilty plea.
Prosecutors allege that Manafort, with Gates’ assistance, laundered more than $30 million and duped banks into lending money. They say the pair used funds from secret offshore accounts to enjoy a life of luxury.
None of the charges against the pair make reference to alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election nor accusations of collusion between Moscow and Trump’s campaign.
Just last week, Mueller doubled down with new charges against Manafort and his business associate Richard Gates, who also worked on the Trump campaign.
The superseding indictment charged Manafort and Gates on 32 counts related to income from their work in Ukraine and accused them of engaging in a “scheme” to hide money from U.S. authorities.
Gates made a plea deal last week to charges that he lied to investigators and conspired against the United States. The move added to pressure on Manafort to cut a deal himself but he has maintained his innocence. Manafort responded to Gates’s guilty plea, saying he had hoped Gates would have had “the strength” to fight the charges and that he would maintain his innocence.
As Reuters adds, Manafort is facing two separate indictments - one filed in the federal court in Washington, D.C., and a second in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. The Washington one charges him with conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy against the United States, making false statements, and charges in connection with failing to register as a foreign agent for Ukraine.
The Virginia indictment charges him with bank fraud, filing false tax returns and failing to report foreign bank accounts to the U.S. government.
Manafort is expected to appear for a second hearing in the Alexandria court on Friday, where he will also plead not guilty to the charges.
The two separate indictments against him in the District of Columbia and Virginia are seen as unusual. Normally such charges would be consolidated in one court, but Manafort has refused to allow this, which might be a legal tactic meant to make Mueller’s case more difficult.
The two parallel cases could complicate matters for both sides, since each indictment to a large extent relies on the same underlying evidence. Judge Jackson on Wednesday fretted about this, saying dueling cases could lead to a “duplicative” amount of work, particularly for the defense, and potentially “inconsistent rulings” by the two judges.
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If found guilty, Manafort will face a lengthy prison sentence, however he has so far refused to join Gates in changing his plea, and becoming a cooperating witness in the Mueller probe.
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