ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Prosecutors for Special Counsel Robert Mueller are asking the judge overseeing the fraud trial of Paul Manafort to correct an earlier statement.
On Thursday, prosecutors questioned a loan officer for Citizen’s Bank of New York, asking about Manafort’s 2016 loan application that the bank rejected. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III interjected: “You might want to spend time on a loan that was granted.”
Early Friday, prosecutors said Ellis’ crack “misrepresents the law” regarding bank conspiracy and “is likely to confuse the jury.”
Ellis has yet to comment on the motion.
A day earlier, the judge acknowledged that he likely erred when he angrily confronted them a day earlier.
You can’t have reversible error on an acquittal, can you?
It sure looks like he’s trying to get Manafort aquitted by making the jury think the prosecution is either inept or corrupt. Are any reporters digging into this judge’s finances? I wonder if he has any loans on the books from people who might want to see Mueller’s prosecutions fail?
I’ve previously read that that prosecution can only appeal an acquittal on very limited circumstances, like if the judge or jury has been bribed.
This judge seems to have lost his grip of ___________ (fill in the blank.)
The motion was well taken.