The defense attorneys argue that evidence of grand jury leaks is abundant, but that Judge T.
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s defense is going after one of special counsel Robert Mueller’s top deputies in a bid to persuade a federal judge to order a hearing into leaks to the media.
In a court filing Monday night, Manafort’s attorneys singled out prosecutor Andrew Weissmann over a meeting he attended with the Associated Press in April 2017 – about a month before Mueller was appointed to take over the Trump-Russia investigation. At the time, Weissmann headed the fraud section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
The precise nature of the session with the AP reporters is unclear, but it came a day before the news agency reported that financial records showed Manafort actually received payments attributed to him in a so-called black ledger of secret Ukrainian government compensation.
Manafort’s defense attorneys suggested the episode makes Weissmann a logical suspect as a source for anonymously-sourced press accounts about the Manafort probe.
"It has been reported that a complaint was made to the Justice Department by the FBI with respect to the meeting with the AP reporters, which suggests that normal procedures were not followed in this case," Manafort lawyers Kevin Downing, Tom Zehnle and Jay Nanavati said. "The individuals that would be the focus of a leaks investigation are readily identifiable."
A spokesman for Mueller’s office declined to comment on the new defense filing submitted in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.
However, in a response to Manafort’s initial motion for a hearing into the leaks, prosecutors said there was no indication that the leaks Manafort’s team cited involved grand jury information. Mueller’s team also suggested that members of Congress, witnesses, attorneys for other suspects and even Manafort’s own attorneys could be potential sources for many of the reports.
Prosecutors also suggested that any impact the press stories may have had on the jury pool could be addressed through jury selection. But Manafort’s team said that wouldn’t be enough to negate the flood of damaging media reports about their client.
"In light of the mass media coverage of these leaks in print, on television, radio and the internet, it seems unlikely that there is a jury questionnaire, instruction or change of venue that could cure the irreparable harm to Mr. Manafort’s Constitutional rights resulting from leaks by the highest-level government officials," Manafort’s defense lawyers wrote.
The defense attorneys argue that evidence of grand jury leaks is abundant, but that Judge T.S. Ellis III should order a hearing even on leaks of classified information and other sensitive investigative details regardless of whether they involved a grand jury.
Manafort is scheduled to go to trial July 10 in Virginia on charges of tax evasion, bank fraud and failure to report foreign bank accounts. He faces a second indictment in Washington on charges of money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent for his Ukraine-related work. That trial is set for Sept. 17. Mueller’s office is handling both cases.
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