Judge Mulls Dismissal Of Manafort Charges, Sharply Questioned Mueller Overreach
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Fri, 05/04/2018
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 finally be free of his ankle bracelets – as judge Amy Berman Jackson 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.
Berman said she’s concerned Mueller is only pursuing charges against Manafort (and presumably other individuals) to pressure them into turning on Trump. Berman 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,” Berman said.
Berman 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, she will presumably dismiss the case. She said she would also like to see the letter signed by Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein outlining the scope of the Mueller probe.
Of course, such a dismissal would be nothing short of groundbreaking. It would potentially make it much harder for Mueller to turn witnesses against the president.
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