Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort pleaded not guilty Wednesday to new charges of conspiracy and money laundering stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
The plea came during his first appearance in federal court since his longtime associate struck a plea agreement that includes cooperating with the special counsel’s office “on all matters.”
U.S. Judge Amy Berman Jackson agreed to a trial date for Sept. 17 for Manafort.
Greg Andres, a prosecutor for the special counsel’s office, told the judge “the government is ready to go to trial as soon as possible.”
Manafort was hit with a new set of charges on Friday, hours after his business partner Rick Gates pleaded guilty to conspiracy and lying to investigators.
Manafort and Gates were first indicted together in October in Washington, and were later hit with a 32-count indictment in Virginia that included charges of tax and bank fraud. Mueller’s office moved Tuesday to drop all charges in Virginia against Gates as part of the plea agreement.
The five new charges against Manafort are conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, failure to register as a foreign agent, making false and misleading statements about his work on behalf Ukrainian entities, and making false statements.
The charges are meant to increase pressure in Mueller’s wide-ranging, nearly year-long probe.
Following Gates’ plea Friday, Manafort said he continues to “maintain my innocence.”
“I had hoped and expected my business colleague would have had the strength to continue the battle to prove our innocence,” Manafort said in a statement. “For reasons yet to surface he chose to do otherwise. This does not alter my commitment to defend myself against the untrue piled up charges contained in the indictments against me.”
Jackson told Manafort on Wednesday that the statement violated her gag order issued at the beginning of the original case, and warned him not to do it again.
President Trump has called the investigation a “witch hunt” and continually insists his presidential campaign did not collude with Russia.
Manafort will be in federal court again Friday afternoon, in Alexandria, Va. He will be arraigned on the separate 32-count indictment brought against him by Mueller.
