Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort on Friday asked the judge overseeing his Virginia case to move the upcoming trial from Alexandria, a suburb of Washington, D.C., to Roanoke, Virginia.
Manafort argued that it will be impossible for him to receive a fair trial if it takes place in Alexandria.
Manafort lamented in the filing that his indictment has been the subject of intense national media attention and claimed that the coverage “has often been sensationalized and untethered from the facts in the case.” He argued that media attention to Manafort’s upcoming trial has been “most intense in and around Washington, D.C.,” including Alexandria.
The lawyers representing Manafort argued that potential jurors in Alexandria will be “are far more likely to have closely followed the developments and news coverage in the Manafort case in light of the division’s close connection with the nation’s capital.” They also argued that potential jurors in the area are more likely to be opponents of President Donald Trump and likely to associate Manafort with the President.
“Nowhere in the country is the bias against Mr. Manafort more apparent than here in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area,” they wrote.
Read the filing:
