08-03-2018, 11:05 PM
The legal situation with Paul Manafort is a little confusing.
The current trial is for financial crimes only, as Duchess noted. Those had to be filed in the state which they occurred (Virginia).
The trial for those alleged financial crimes didn't have to occur in Virginia however. Manafort had the option of having those charges combined with the 'Conspiracy to Defraud the United States" charges for which he was later indicted, as was his deputy Rick Gates (who pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the Special Prosecutor).
Manafort did not agree to combine the trials, reportedly because he and his legal team figured the Washington DC trial for conspiracy would come first and the DC population (and thus the jury pool) is more liberal than Virginia. But, the trial sequence didn't work out that way because the Virginia court moves much faster than most.
So, Manafort is being tried for the financial crimes, which are not tied directly to the Russian interference, in Virginia now. He'll be tried for Conspiracy against the U.S., which is directly related to Russian interference, in DC in September.
Mueller was able to secure an indictment against Manafort for conspiring against the U.S., so Mueller's team presented evidence to support the conspiracy allegations. Whether the evidence proves Manafort was conspiring with Russia to affect the results of our 2016 Presidential election and whether Mueller's team can convince a jury of that beyond reasonable doubt remains to be seen.
The best background and explanation that I've read regarding the charges, the separate trials and such is here: https://www.vox.com/2018/7/31/17590846/p...ump-russia
I think Roger Stone is likely to be indicted for Conspiracy fairly soon as well. That's just my opinion based on Stone's own statements during the campaign in regards to the illegally hacked DNC emails and Stone's current appearances and statements on all the cable news shows.
The current trial is for financial crimes only, as Duchess noted. Those had to be filed in the state which they occurred (Virginia).
The trial for those alleged financial crimes didn't have to occur in Virginia however. Manafort had the option of having those charges combined with the 'Conspiracy to Defraud the United States" charges for which he was later indicted, as was his deputy Rick Gates (who pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the Special Prosecutor).
Manafort did not agree to combine the trials, reportedly because he and his legal team figured the Washington DC trial for conspiracy would come first and the DC population (and thus the jury pool) is more liberal than Virginia. But, the trial sequence didn't work out that way because the Virginia court moves much faster than most.
So, Manafort is being tried for the financial crimes, which are not tied directly to the Russian interference, in Virginia now. He'll be tried for Conspiracy against the U.S., which is directly related to Russian interference, in DC in September.
Mueller was able to secure an indictment against Manafort for conspiring against the U.S., so Mueller's team presented evidence to support the conspiracy allegations. Whether the evidence proves Manafort was conspiring with Russia to affect the results of our 2016 Presidential election and whether Mueller's team can convince a jury of that beyond reasonable doubt remains to be seen.
The best background and explanation that I've read regarding the charges, the separate trials and such is here: https://www.vox.com/2018/7/31/17590846/p...ump-russia
I think Roger Stone is likely to be indicted for Conspiracy fairly soon as well. That's just my opinion based on Stone's own statements during the campaign in regards to the illegally hacked DNC emails and Stone's current appearances and statements on all the cable news shows.