Manafort attacks special counsel’s case as ‘embellished’

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman attacked an indictment accusing him of money laundering and other financial crimes, dismissing as “embellished” a criminal case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller and his team of investigators.

Attorneys for Paul Manafort defended him in a court filing Thursday as a “successful, international political consultant” who, by nature of his work on behalf of foreign political parties, was necessarily involved in international financial transactions. They argued that Manafort, who led Trump’s campaign for several months last year, had done nothing wrong and did not pose a risk of fleeing the country.

The filing was the first volley from Manafort’s defense team seeking to undermine a 12-count indictment charging him and longtime business associate Rick Gates in connection with their political consulting work for Ukraine’s former ruling party. The charges were the first announced by Mueller, the former FBI director appointed as special counsel in May to run the Justice Department’s investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign.

They were placed on house arrest earlier this week, released on multimillion-dollar bonds meant to guarantee their appearances for future court dates. Both men appeared Thursday in federal court in Washington, where a judge determined that they would remain on home confinement and electronic monitoring at least through the weekend.

Attorneys for Manafort, 68, and Gates, 45, are asking U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson to lift the conditions of their home confinement and say the bonds are enough to ensure they show up for court. The judge said she would take up the matter again at a hearing Monday, but in the meantime, directed attorneys on both sides to not comment publicly on the case. Manafort’s attorney, Kevin Downing, had issued a statement to reporters outside the courthouse this week.

“I expect counsel to do their talking in the courtroom and in their pleadings, and not on the courthouse steps,” Jackson said.

Besides the indictment of Manafort and Gates, prosecutors revealed a guilty plea from a campaign adviser named George Papadopoulos, who admitted lying to the FBI about foreign contacts during the campaign.