The federal judge presiding over Paul Manafort’s case in Washington, D.C. dealt him another legal setback Friday by declining to throw out charges brought against him that Manafort alleged were “multiplicitous.”
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had previously dismissed two seperate legal challenges brought by Manafort alleging that special counsel Robert Mueller was acting outside of his authority.
Manafort has been charged with money laundering, false statements and failure to disclose foreign lobbying — stemming from work he did in Ukraine predating his time on Trump’s campaign. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges, as well as to the other charges Mueller brought against him in Virginia.
The issue Jackson decided on Friday was whether two of the counts in the D.C. indictment — both having to do with what Manafort told the government about his Ukraine lobbying — were duplicative, since they both dealt with the same set of statements Manafort made to the Department of Justice.
“But the test for multiplicity is not whether two counts are based on the same set of facts; rather, it is whether the statutory elements of the two offenses are the same,” Jackson wrote.
She denied Manafort’s request but noted that he can raise the issue again after the trial.
Read her opinion below:
But, was it a “tremendous setback.”
I’m hearing a sad trombone . . . .
I think we need to keep our eyes on the important thing here, which is that his lawyers sucked another 80K out of his pocket running this Hail Mary which they may never receive and, if they do, which puts Manafort measurably closer to the day he cannot pay them.
Ok. Moving right along…
“… he can raise the issue again after the trial.”
In other words, once you’ve been convicted of both charges, you might get one dropped. That taken in conjunction with all your other convictions will result in your sentence being reduced from 150 years to 148.