Lawyers for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort are again arguing special counsel Robert Mueller is using the charges brought against Manafort are a game of legal “whack-a-mole” and again argued the appointment of Mueller was unconstitutional.
A motion to dismiss the charges brought against Manafort by Mueller was filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of Virginia, and is similar to the motion to dismiss filed earlier this month in federal court in Washington.
Manafort’s lawyers argue that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein went beyond his legal authority by appointing Mueller in May 2017.
In the appointment order, Mueller is given authorization to investigate “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump” and “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.”
But the charges against Manafort don’t “arise directly” from the special counsel’s investigation, and thus exceed the scope of Mueller’s authority, his attorneys argue.
According to Manafort’s spokesman Jason Maloni, Manafort has also been threatened “with additional charges in additional jurisdictions.”
“He is now playing a game of criminal-procedure whack a mole against a Special Counsel whose massive resources he cannot possibly hope to match. The indictment must be dismissed for want of jurisdiction,” said Maloni in a Tuesday email to the Washington Examiner.
Manafort was hit with a new indictment from Mueller’s team in February in Virginia, and pleaded not guilty to 18 charges, including bank fraud and tax evasion, earlier this month.
Manafort, who joined Trump’s campaign in March 2016, is also facing a handful of separate charges in Washington. Those, which include money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent, were fist filed against him in an October indictment, and he has subsequently pleaded not guilty to a new set of charges brought against him late last month.
Motions aren’t due in the Virginia case until April 30; however, District Judge T.S. Ellis III adopted a fast schedule and it appears the defense is moving quickly. A hearing for motions from both sides is set for May 25.
Manafort’s trial in Virginia will begin July 10, and on Sept. 17 in Washington.
