Manafort asks judge to investigate leaks in investigation

Washington: Paul Manafort, the indicted former campaign chairman for Donald Trump, asked a judge to investigate leaks to the media of confidential grand jury information that may have also been classified.

Manafort, who faces two federal indictments, seeks a hearing about the source of leaked information that he said interferes with his right to a fair trial in Alexandria, Virginia, where Special Counsel Robert Mueller signed an indictment accusing him of bank and tax fraud. He’s also accused in Washington of money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent for his political consulting in Ukraine.

The leakers have subjected Manafort, 69, to “a torrent of negative and apparently false press generated by numerous unlawful disclosures,” according to a filing late Monday in federal court in Alexandria. “These government-sourced disclosures have violated the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, internal government policies and procedures, federal statutes, and Mr. Manafort’s constitutional rights.”

Manafort’s request that US District Judge T.S. Ellis III hold a hearing comes as Trump, Republican leaders, and conservative media have repeatedly criticised former FBI Director James Comey and his ex-deputy, Andrew McCabe, for leaks and their conduct during the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Classified Intel

Comey and McCabe have “admitted leaking information to the press during their tenures at the FBI,” according to the filing. “Both individuals had direct involvement in the investigation of the Trump campaign.”

Manafort’s attorneys decried reports printed over 18 months that relied on government sources and contained information that was subject to grand jury secrecy, was potentially classified or was false. They cited reports by the Associated Press, New York Times, CNN, NBC News, and BuzzFeed News.

Leaks about surveillance of Manafort with foreign individuals is “particularly troubling,” according to the filing. Mueller’s office has produced no tapes, notes, transcripts or other materials to defence lawyers “evidencing surveillance or intercepts of communications between Mr. Manafort and Russian intelligence officials, Russian government officials (or any other foreign officials).”

When Manafort asked for such materials, Mueller’s office said it had none, according to the filing.

‘False narrative’

“The natural implication of this is that these government leaks were intentionally designed to create a false narrative in order to garner support for the appointment of a special counsel” in May 2017, according to Manafort’s lawyers.

In a separate filing Monday, Manafort’s lawyers asked the judge to dismiss one of several tax counts against him in the Virginia indictment.

The count in question accuses him of failing to file a foreign bank and financial accounts report, or FBAR, for 2011. Manafort’s attorneys said prosecutors didn’t charge him within the required five-year period. He’s also charged with not filing FBARs for 2012 to 2014, filing false tax returns and bank fraud.

Manafort also asked the Virginia judge to suppress evidence obtained by federal agents in a search of his Alexandria home on July 26, 2017. He’d already made a similar request in the Washington case.

Manafort has pleaded not guilty in Washington and Alexandria, and he faces two trials. A hearing will be held in Virginia on May 25 over Manafort’s motion.

Manafort previously asked the judge to dismiss the entire indictment in Virginia, claiming that Mueller went too far by investigating crimes beyond Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. He claims that Mueller exceeded his appointment order to investigate coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, as well as “any matters that arose or may arise directly” from his probe.

Last week, a judge in Washington dismissed a civil lawsuit that Manafort filed using similar arguments. In that case, the judge said Manafort should save that reasoning for his criminal case.