President Trump praised a federal judge Friday for calling into question whether special counsel Robert Mueller was exceeding his authority in charging former Trump chairman manager Paul Manafort with pre-campaign financial crimes.
“Just when I’m walking on the stage, a highly respected judge in Virginia made statements, it says, Wall Street Journal, ‘Judge questions Mueller’s authority to prosecute Manafort,'” Trump told a National Rifle Association gathering in Texas, referring to remarks from U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis.
“Judge T.S. Ellis, who is something really special I hear from many standpoints, he’s a respected person,” Trump said.
Ellis said in court that Manafort’s alleged crimes, connected to his lobbying for pro-Russia politicians in Ukraine, occurred before Trump’s campaign and appeared unconnected to the special counsel’s primary charge of probing possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia.
“This investigation that had led to this indictment … has nothing to do with Russia or the campaign,” Ellis said in court. “We said this is what our investigation is about, but we’re not bound by it, and we were lying. You care about what information Mr. Manafort can give you that could lead to Mr. Trump.”
Trump read aloud some of Ellis’ commentary, orally annotating parts.
“Unrelated, nobody knows that,” Trump told the crowd.
Ellis gave prosecutors two weeks to turn over an unredacted memo drafted by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein establishing the scope of Mueller’s probe, or to provide a reason for why they object to doing so. Congressional Republicans also are seeking the memo.
Trump said Manafort was with his campaign “for a short while, but he’s a good person. He is. I really believe he’s a good person.”
Regarding Mueller’s probe, Trump said, “I’ve been saying that for a long time, it’s a witch hunt.”
