Paul Manafort’s attorney says special counsel Robert Mueller was unable to find evidence that Mr. Manafort colluded with Moscow during the 2016 election as he charged him with tax and bank fraud.

Attorney Kevin Downing made the declaration in a court filing seeking leniency from U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III in Alexandria for a March 8 sentencing.

Mr. Manafort, given his lofty perch in the Trump campaign, was always seen by the president’s foes as the gateway to proving a Kremlin election conspiracy and to nailing President Trump. But the scenario has not played out that way as Mr. Mueller brought a pile of unrelated criminal charges in Virginia and D.C.

Mr. Mueller’s principal appointment order from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in May 2017 was to investigate coordination between the Kremlin and Trump campaign in the hacking of Democratic Party computers

“Shortly after Mr. Trump’s election, the Acting Attorney General appointed the Special

Counsel to investigate allegations that Mr. Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election,” Mr. Downing said in his Friday filing. “In October 2017, unable to establish that Mr. Manafort engaged in any such collusion, the Special Counsel charged him in the District of Columbia with crimes unrelated to Mr. Manafort’s work on the 2016 campaign.”

“Several months later, in February 2018, Mr. Manafort was charged in this District with tax fraud, failing to report foreign bank accounts, and bank fraud—allegations, again, that were unrelated to the 2016 campaign or any collusion with the Russian government,” he said.

Mr. Manafort, a longtime Republican operative who served as Mr. Trump’s campaign manager part way, was convicted by a Virginia jury on five charges of income tax invasion, two counts of bank fraud and one of failing to report foreign transactions.

Federal probation guidelines call for a sentence of up to 24 years, likely a life prison term for the 69-year-old Mr. Manafort who is in poor health and takes a variety of medications.

Mr. Manafort also faces sentencing in D.C. on March 13 on guilty pleas to similar charges, plus tampering with a witness.

Mr. Mueller’s team filed a sentencing memo in that court last week.

“His criminal actions were bold, some of which were committed while under a spotlight due to his work as the campaign chairman and, later, while he was on bail from this Court,” the memo says.

Mr. Downing reacted sharply to his client being depicted as a hardened criminal.

“The Special Counsel’s attempt to vilify Mr. Manafort as a lifelong and irredeemable felon is beyond the pale and grossly overstates the facts before this Court,” Mr. Downing told Judge Ellis.

He accused Mr. Mueller’s staff of leaking defamatory information.

“The Special Counsel’s conduct comes as no surprise, and falls within the government’s pattern of spreading misinformation about Mr. Manafort to impugn his character in a manner that this country has not experienced in decades,” he said.

Mr. Downing discovered in pre-trial motions that Andrew Weissmann, Mr. Mueller’s top prosecutor, met with Associated Press reporters investigating Mr. Manafort.

Mr. Downing said in a footnote:

“The Special Counsel’s strategy in bringing charges against Mr. Manafort had nothing to do with the Special Counsel’s core mandate—Russian collusion—but was instead designed to ‘tighten the screws’ in an effort to compel Mr. Manafort to cooperate and provide incriminating information about others.”

Judge Ellis seemed to agree in a colorfully worded opinion in June 2018:

“Given the investigation’s focus on President Trump’s campaign, even a blind person can see that the true target of the Special Counsel’s investigation is President Trump, not defendant, and that defendant’s prosecution is part of that larger plan,” he wrote. “Specifically, the charges against defendant are intended to induce defendant to cooperate with the Special Counsel by providing evidence against the President or other members of the campaign. Although these kinds of high-pressure prosecutorial tactics are neither uncommon nor illegal, they are distasteful.”

Mr. Downing outlined his client’s health woes as he sits in protective solitary confinement.

“Since his incarceration, Mr. Manafort has been prescribed numerous prescription drugs to address various health challenges, including: Allopurinol and Colchicine to treat his gout symptoms; Amlodipine Besylate and Carvedilol to treat his high blood pressure; Atorvastatin to treat high cholesterol; Otezla and Lac-Hydrin to treat psoriasis; and Meloxicam to treat arthritis, among other prescription and over-the-counter treatments. Although Mr. Manafort downplays these challenges for his family and friends, the reality is he is not the relatively healthy man he was prior to his incarceration.”

Mr. Downing added:

“He suffers from severe anxiety, panic attacks, and a constant feeling of claustrophobia while he is locked alone in his cell each day. These conditions of confinement were designed for violent offenders who pose risks to the safety of other inmates or jail personnel, or who are placed in solitary confinement as punishment for disciplinary infractions; they were surely not intended for the long-term confinement of a first time white-collar offender of Mr. Manafort’s age and health.”

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