ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The federal judge in Paul Manafort’s financial fraud trial is trying to place limits on the court proceedings, warning lawyers not to roll their eyes at him or to introduce irrelevant evidence.
U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III pressed prosecutors to limit their use of an extensive trove of evidence, saying that some documents and photographs were not relevant to charges that Manafort tried to hide millions of dollars in income on his tax returns.
At one point in the trial’s second day, Ellis also said he was told that attorneys on both sides had been seen rolling their eyes after leaving the bench or in response to his rulings. The lawyers’ facial expressions, Ellis said, appeared to show them thinking “why do we have to put up with this idiot judge?”
