Judge Amy Berman Jackson denied a request Tuesday by Paul Manafort that special counsel Robert Mueller turn over unredacted versions of warrant affidavits that were part of his investigation into the former Trump campaign chairman.
The affidavits in question were for warrants targeting one of Manafort’s email accounts and five phone numbers. The latter warrant was only obtained this year.
Jackson, citing her own review of the unredacted affidavits behind closed doors, said in her order that “the Court finds that the limited redactions are appropriate and justified on the grounds set forth by the prosecution, and that the Office of Special Counsel need not reveal the redacted information to the defendant at this time.”
“There is nothing in the redactions that relates to any of the charges now pending against Manafort or that would be relevant to a challenge to any of the warrants issued based on the affidavits, particularly given the prosecution’s stated willingness to set aside that information and not rely upon it to establish that there was probable cause to support the issuance of any warrant,” the judge, who is overseeing the case brought against Manafort in D.C. said.
It is the latest in a series of legal setbacks for Manafort the judge has handed down recently. She last week declined to throw out one of the counts Mueller brought that Manafort alleged was duplicative. She also ruled against two seperate legal actions Manafort brought challenging Mueller’s authority.
Manafort has been charged with money laundering, failure to register foreign lobbying, and false statements in Washington, D.C. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges, and to the charges Mueller brought against him in Virginia.
Read the order below:
