WASHINGTON (CN) - Paul Manafort’s bid to divert his trial from Washington circled the drain Wednesday as a federal judge skewered the basis that the ex-Trump campaign manager gave for seeking a change of venue.
More than 90 percent of voters in the District of Columbia cast ballots in 2016 for Hillary Clinton, but suppositions of political affiliation do not offer a lawful justification for switching venues, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said this morning during a two-hour pretrial conference.
Jackson noted that the issue could be probed further if the process of seating a jury, set to begin later this month, proves difficult.
The court also heard arguments today about various materials that Manafort and the prosecution want excluded from the trial.
Prosecutors want Manafort barred from arguing that special counsel Robert Mueller's office engaged in selective or vindictive prosecution, or that any prior investigation of Manafort wrapped without charges being brought against him.
Noting that Manafort’s defense attorneys ignored an order from a federal judge in Virginia not to raise such issues before the jury in his last trial, prosecutors now say Jackson must set the line on these matters firmly.
Jackson said this morning that she would not consider any orders in Virginia that defense attorneys ignored, but would give them an opportunity to further explain why the jury should get to hear such arguments.
Defense attorney Kevin Downing told Jackson they intend to raise the issue to illustrate the vagueness of the Foreign Agent Registration Act, noting that only six cases have been charged under the law since 1966.
"That sort of selective prosecution argument gets raised all the time," Jackson responded, adding that Downing would need to provide her with a legal basis to justify raising the issue with the jury.
Manafort was convicted last month in Virginia of financial crimes and is set to face another trial in Washington regarding his failure to register as a foreign agent while lobbying on behalf of a pro-Russian political party.
During the Virginia trial, defense attorneys implied that Manafort’s connection to the Trump campaign caused his selective prosecution. This argument contravened a demand by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III that the defense approach the bench before raising such allegations.
Downing said in court Wednesday that the politics surrounding the case are unavoidable.
"Paul Manafort is here because he was Trump's campaign manager," he said.
Jackson said that kind of argument is more appropriately made in a motion to dismiss, not to the jury.
Ahead of the Washington trial, Manafort’s defense has its own requests. They want prosecutors to keep details about the 2016 U.S. election and about Manafort's role in Trump's campaign to a minimum.
Prosecutors said last month they do not intend to introduce any evidence about the Kremlin's effort to disrupt the 2016 election, or whether the Trump campaign assisted that scheme. They do claim, however, that any false statements Manafort made to the Justice Department on foreign-agent filings are relevant to his role as Trump's campaign chairman, since his incentive to maintain that role could factor in to his alleged efforts to distance himself from former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych.