Judge blasts special counsel Robert Mueller's criminal case against Paul Manafort

Jessica Estepa | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Paul Manafort arrives at federal court in Va. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort arrived at a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia on Friday morning as he seeks dismissal of tax and bank fraud charges against him. (May 4)

A federal judge on Friday criticized the criminal case brought against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, asserting that special counsel Robert Mueller's team wanted to bring down the president, according to reports.

During a tense hearing for Manafort, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III rebuked Mueller's team. He questioned whether Mueller was overstepping his prosecutorial power to look into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

"I don't see what relationship this indictment has with anything the special counsel is authorized to investigate," Ellis said, Reuters reported.

He continued: "It's unlikely you're going to persuade me the special counsel has unfettered power to do whatever he wants."

Manafort is facing charges in both Virginia and Washington. In his Virginia case, he is facing a trial on 18 counts of bank and tax fraud charges. Back in March, Ellis said Manafort faced "the very real possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison."

The Virginia trial is set for July 10.

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Manafort is seeking to have the charges against him dismissed, saying Mueller had overstepped his authority.

Despite his skepticism, Ellis did not issue a ruling on Manafort's motion to dismiss the indictment on Friday.

Ellis asserted that the team wasn't actually after Manafort, but President Trump himself.

"You don't really care about Mr. Manafort's bank fraud," Ellis said, according to CNBC. "You really care about what information he might give you about Mr. Trump and what might lead to his impeachment or prosecution."

Michael Dreeben, the deputy solicitor general who is currently working on Mueller's probe, said that their investigative scope did cover the activity in the indictment.

"Cover bank fraud in 2005 and 2007?" Ellis replied. "Tell me how!"

President Trump, who has long called Mueller's investigation a "witch hunt," spoke of the judge's comments during remarks to the National Rifle Association on Friday.

"Let me tell you folks, we're all fighting battles, but I love fighting these battles," Trump said.

He also defended Manafort, someone he said only worked for him for a couple months. (Manafort joined the 2016 campaign in March, was promoted to campaign chairman that May and resigned in August.)

"He's a good person," Trump said. "He is. I really believe he's a good person."

Contributing: David Jackson

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