Paul Manafort in a court filing Friday afternoon asked a federal judge to order Special Counsel Robert Mueller to fill in some of the vaguer details of the grand jury indictment against the former Trump campaign chairman.
Manafort’s attorneys said they need more particulars about how Manafort “caused” — quoting the most recent indictment against him — various allegedly fraudulent activity. They want more specifics about the false statements Manafort allegedly made in preparing his taxes and in interactions with the Justice Department about his foreign lobbying work. They also requested that the special counsel be ordered to name the anonymous accomplices referenced in the indictment, and the unnamed companies that were allegedly involved in Manafort’s foreign lobbying scheme.
“Without the particulars, which are within the Special Counsel’s easy reach to provide, the defendant is left grasping for straws and depleting his limited resources,” the filing said.
Manafort was first charged by Mueller’s probe in October. The indictment referenced in Friday’s filing is a superseding indictment — meaning an indictment that replaces or expands an original set of charges — that was filed in D.C. in February. He is charged with a conspiracy to defraud the United States, money laundering, and failure to disclose his foreign lobbying. He is also facing similar charges in Virginia. He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Read the full filing below:
