The special counsel has provided Paul Manafort’s legal team with over 1000 pieces of evidence for the next trial of the former Trump campaign manager, which are to be shown to jurors in his DC case.
According to a Thursday court filing from Manafort’s lawyers, the exhibits don’t overlap, even though the two criminal cases he faces do, CNN reports.
The former Trump campaign chief’s Virginia trial began on July 31 and in it, almost 400 financial records, emails and various other documents were presented by prosecutors. Jurors in that case have not yet reached a verdict on bank fraud and tax crime charges.
According to the special counsel’s team, prosecutors have “well over 1,000 proposed exhibits” lined up for the Washington federal case, set to go to trial on September 17. In that case, Manafort is facing charges of money laundering and failing to register as an agent for a foreign government for his work for a pro-Russian party in Ukraine.
In June he was also accused of witness tampering, after which he was imprisoned without bond. Manafort has pleaded not guilty in both cases, CNBC informs.
Manafort’s lawyers and special counsel Robert Mueller have until August 24 to file a joint pretrial statement, detailing their respective lists of evidence and expert witnesses and proposing jury instructions.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson also encouraged the special counsel “to review the exhibit list closely with an eye towards streamlining the presentation of its case.”
Manafort’s legal team said that reviewing the evidence will take time, adding that “the task simply cannot be accomplished while Mr. Manafort’s legal team is engaged in trial before Judge [T.S.] Ellis” in Virginia. They added that the Virginia trial does not allow them enough time to confer with Mueller’s team about the joint pretrial statement.
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