Via Zerohedge.com
Like most motions to dismiss, Paul Manafort’s was initially viewed as a long-shot bid to win the political operative his freedom and get out from under the thumb of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
But after today’s hearing on a motion to dismiss filed by Manafort’s lawyers, it’s looking increasingly likely that Manafort could escape his charges – and be free of his ankle bracelets – because in a surprising rebuke of Mueller’s “overreach”, Eastern District of Virginia Judge T.S. Ellis, a Reagan appointee, said Mueller shouldn’t have “unfettered power” to prosecute over charges that have nothing to do with collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.
Ellis said he’s concerned Mueller is only pursuing charges against Manafort (and presumably other individuals) to pressure them into turning on Trump. The Judge added that the charges brought against Manafort didn’t appear to stem from Mueller’s collusion probe. Instead, they appeared to be the work of an older investigation into Manafort that was eventually dropped.
“I don’t see how this indictment has anything to do with anything the special prosecutor is authorized to investigate,” Ellis said at a hearing in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, concerning a motion by Manafort to dismiss the case.
It got better: Ellis also slammed prosecutors saying it appeared they were using the indictment of Manafort to pressure him to cooperate against Trump. Manafort, 69, has pleaded not guilty and disputes Mueller’s assertion that he violated U.S. laws when he worked for a decade as a political consultant for pro-Russian groups in Ukraine.
“You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud,” Ellis said. “You really care about what information he might give you about Mr. Trump and what might lead to his impeachment or prosecution.”
According to Bloomberg, Ellis is overseeing one of two indictments against Manafort. Manafort is also charged in Washington with money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent of Ukraine.
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Manafort’s lawyers had asked the judge in the Virginia case to dismiss an indictment filed against him in what was their third effort to beat back criminal charges by attacking Mueller’s authority. The judge also questioned why Manafort’s case there could not be handled by the U.S. attorney’s office in Virginia, rather than the special counsel’s office, as it is not Russia-related. A question many others have asked, as well.
Ellis has given prosecutors two weeks to show what evidence they have that Manafort was complicit in colluding with the Russians. If they can’t come up with any, he may, presumably, dismiss the case. Ellis also asked the special counsel’s office to share privately with him a copy of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentein’s August 2017 memo elaborating on the scope of Mueller’s Russia probe. He said the current version he has been heavily redacted.
At that point, should nothing change materially, Manafort may be a free man; needless to say, a dismissal would set precedent and be nothing short of groundbreaking by potentially making it much harder for Mueller to turn other witnesses against the president.
zerohedge@zerohedgeJUDGE QUESTIONS WHY MANAFORT CASE IN VIRGINIA SHOULD NOT BE HANDLED BY U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, RATHER THAN SPECIAL COUNSEL BECAUSE IT IS NOT RUSSIA-RELATED
Rob Lee@WRRobUh-oh precedence if this gets dismissed…. The Judge may single handedly end the cat and mouse games by the special council and would make it much harder for Muller to turn any other parties to his side (because all charges are unrelated to Russia so far)….
We imagine the prospect of Manafort effectively walking free will prompt some more glee from President Trump on Twitter, touting Ellis’ skepticism as validation of his view.
It will be interesting to see Mueller’s response to this.
Wonder if he’ll raid the Judge’s home the way he did Manafort’s?
Prosecutors and judges should have NO official immunity. As it stands now, prosecutors and judges cannot be brought up on charges for malfeasance through the regular judicial system. Any misconduct by prosecutors and judges have to be investigated by a “special master”–an individual who is appointed by the same prosecutors and judges. The foxes guarding the chicken house? Absolutely…
Judge Ellis, appointed by RR, that would likely make him about the late Supreme Court Justice Scalia’s age. A lot can happen in two weeks. Could be that we will have the smell of Arkancide in the future. Not to worry though there are separate charges before a different judge. Lisa and Pete knew a lot about insurance policies and redundant coverage.
Misuse of administrative law. This law has no checks and balances.
“As it stands now, prosecutors and judges cannot be brought up on charges for malfeasance through the regular judicial system.”
Has anyone really contemplated why this is so? One has to look at the law itself to realize why. Administrative law is about facts only; not spiritual values. Those practicing it don’t have to be men or woman guided by values to discern facts. Malfeasance is about values so in the realm of administrative law it is a null argument to question prosecutors and judges about about their malfeasance.
This is why administrative law does not have a mechanism in it to address complaints about malfeasance.
The “rule of law” is not about values it is about facts. And facts can be lies codified into law e.g. cannabis is a class one drug making anyone using it a criminal.
We can thank the lawyers for the widespread use of this form of rule of law. It is the law of man; the material man. The man of facts not the man of values.
As long as we continue to accept this form of law as the law of the land don’t expect all judges and prosecutors to be men and woman that will pursue their trade without malfeasance.