Paul Manafort, the former chairman of President Trump’s 2016 campaign, has asked a federal judge to throw out all evidence in his criminal trial that was obtained when the FBI searched a storage unit that contained materials related to work by him and Rick Gates in Ukraine.
Manafort’s lawyers on Friday issued a motion to suppress evidence, which would disallow special counsel Robert Mueller from using the evidence from the Alexandria, Va.-based storage unit.
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“The evidence obtained from the government’s search of the storage unit should be suppressed,” said the lawyers in the motion.
Kevin Downing and Thomas Zehnle, Manafort’s lawyers, say that FBI agent searched the unit on May 26, 2017, and only did so “after obtaining ‘consent’ to do so from a former low-level employee of Davis Manafort Partners, Inc.” They added that the low-level employee “had no actual authority to allow the FBI Agent into the premises.”
After the agent reviewed the unit, they filed for a search warrant of the storage unit after reporting the labels he saw on some of the boxes – none of which he opened. Manafort argues it was a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights.
Manafort’s consulting work for former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych is a key part of both of his pending criminal indictments, including the Washington indictment. Manafort is accused of conspiring to hide the work he conducted for the Ukrainian government and the millions of dollars that he and Gates profited from. Manafort has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
