Paul Manafort was perhaps under the impression that because his alleged money laundering was not directly connected to Russian efforts to influence the election, he could avoid accountability for it. He filed a suit earlier this year to that affect, alleging that Special Counsel Robert Mueller had overstepped the bounds of his authority by bringing two rounds of charges against him for everything from bank fraud to failing to register as a foreign agent.
This Friday, a federal judge threw out that lawsuit, which means that the former Trump campaign manager will soon have to face a trial for the charges against him.
In her ruling, Judge Amy Jackson wrote:
‘It is a sound and well-established principle that a court should not exercise its equitable powers to interfere with or enjoin an ongoing criminal investigation when the defendant will have the opportunity to challenge any defects in the prosecution in the trial court or on direct appeal.’
In other words, if Manafort wants to defend himself, he’s going to have to use the methods that any criminal defendant has to employ in doing so. He’s not going to get some kind of special treatment. A crime is a crime.
The special counsel’s office had already revealed in the face of Manafort’s challenges that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller, had given the special counsel specific authority to investigate Manafort’s financial history. The memo containing that authorization was revealed earlier this month after having been issued on August 2 of last year, months after Mueller was first appointed to his position.
Meanwhile, the president continues to rail against the validity of the investigation into his team; even if his remaining advisers try and discredit the positions held by those who have had charges brought against them, the president’s endless ranting and raving makes it clear that he’s on the side of the guilty here. He could choose to let the investigation run its course, but instead, he continues on with angry public pronouncements like one that he posted to Twitter on Friday morning, when he wrote that the “total Witch Hunt” of an investigation “MUST END NOW!”
He’s continuing with that rhetoric even while facing credible allegations of obstruction of justice, something that, despite his allies’ most passionate entreaties, remains wrong.
The president has so far seen four of his former associates hit with charges during the course of the Russia investigation; Manafort is the lone holdout who has refused to cooperate with investigators and has pleaded not guilty.
His business partner and fellow former Trump adviser Rick Gates pleaded guilty earlier this year and agreed to cooperate, meaning, as The New York Times notes, that Manafort’s world is collapsing in on him and he’s lost someone who could now prove to be a crucial witness against him.
Manafort is facing charges over an alleged money laundering scheme that he carried on for years while working for the now in-exile former president of Ukraine, Viktor F. Yanukovych.
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