Paul Manafort, who was President Donald Trump's campaign chief in 2016, faces bank and tax fraud charges. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images Judge sets Paul Manafort trial on bank fraud, tax charges for July 10

A federal judge in Virginia on Thursday set a July 10 trial date for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on one of two indictments he's facing in cases brought by special counsel Robert Mueller.

The schedule set by U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III at a hearing in Alexandria puts the relatively new Virginia case — involving 18 counts of tax evasion and bank fraud — on a track for trial before a separate case Mueller's team filed in Washington last year charging Manafort with money laundering and failing to register as a foreign lobbyist in connection with work for Ukraine.


Last week, a judge ordered Manafort's Washington trial to begin Sept. 17.

Ellis' decision and the fast-moving pace of the Alexandria court's so-called rocket docket means Mueller's office could face its first major courtroom test this summer in the case against the veteran lobbyist and political consultant. A jury in Virginia, where Manafort lives, could be friendlier to the former Trump campaign chief than one drawn from Washington, D.C.

However, Manafort attorney Kevin Downing requested the Virginia case be set for sometime in November, after the Washington trial. Downing told Ellis the defense needs time to assemble legal motions in both cases and to prepare for the back-to-back trials.

"This is a massive indictment," the defense attorney said. “We were envisioning a trial in this case in November, following the case in D.C."

“You need to go back to the optometrist,” Ellis shot back. The judge said the July 10 date would allow adequate time. He told Downing he is free to ask for a delay if circumstances require it.

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Mueller team prosecutor Andrew Weissmann supported an early trial in the Virginia case. He told Ellis the Alexandria trial could be relatively brief, lasting eight to 10 court days and involving 20 to 25 witnesses.

During the nearly hourlong hearing Thursday afternoon, Manafort was formally arraigned on the tax- and bank-fraud indictment returned last month by a grand jury in Virginia at the request of Mueller's team. Downing entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Manafort.

The charges brought last October against Manafort and an aide, Rick Gates, were among the first set of legal actions made public by Mueller, who is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether any of President Donald Trump's aides were involved. Manafort has vowed to fight the charges against him, even though Gates is now cooperating with Mueller's team.

The garrulous Ellis, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, was quick to bring up the fact that neither the D.C. case nor the Virginia one appear to have any connection to that central issue Mueller was appointed to investigate.

"You'd like to point out it doesn't have anything to do with Russia [or] interfering in the election," Ellis said to Downing.

"You made my point," Manafort's attorney replied.

Downing said he plans to file motions in both the D.C. and Virginia cases arguing that Mueller has exceeded his mandate and has no legal authority to pursue the cases against Manafort.

Mueller's team didn't engage on that issue Thursday, but government attorneys have argued in court filings that Mueller's appointment gives him the latitude to pursue the charges and that Manafort has no right to contest how Justice Department leaders assign the agency's personnel.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller last May after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from election-related matters. The precise bounds of Mueller's assignment are murky, but he has been approved to investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election as well as any efforts to obstruct or impede that investigation.

Ellis expressed some irritation Thursday at the possibility of successive trials in the two cases, which do involve some overlap. A conspiracy charge filed in Washington encompasses the tax crimes that Mueller's team is pursuing in Virginia.

"Why should we be trying that charge twice?" the judge asked bluntly.

Weissmann said prosecutors offered Manafort's defense the chance to consolidate the charges in Washington, but they declined. The prosecutor said the D.C. charges are "properly venued" in Washington.

Downing suggested Manafort's team was willing to bring the D.C.-based charges to Alexandria, but Mueller's team declined. "We were actually thinking to try to get the conspiracy [charge] to come here," the defense attorney said.

Under the law, Manafort is entitled to be tried in the district where some part of each alleged crime was committed. However, he can waive that right.

Ellis said he wouldn't press him to do that, but suggested it might be a good idea.

"I don't try to coerce people to into giving up their rights, and I'm not going to here, [but] it would make more sense to try it all in one district," the judge said.

The 77-year-old judge seemed piqued by a couple of the Mueller's team's decisions. Reciting an anecdote in which another judge urged prosecutors to try their "three best counts," Ellis suggested the case might have too many charges packed into it.

"We have slimmed down this case," Weissmann replied, noting that only 18 counts will be left after charges against Manafort's former aide Gates are dropped as part of his plea deal struck last month.

Ellis, who stood behind the bench at times during Thursday's hearing, also expressed surprise that Mueller's team planned to go forward with the Alexandria case without having a prosecutor who regularly practices in the Virginia federal court.

The judge asked Weissmann whether he has ever tried a case in an unfamiliar court without a local attorney. Weissmann said he had.

"That was a mistake, wasn't it?" Ellis said.

"It may well have" been, Weissmann replied. (Mueller's staff does have at least one attorney with experience in Alexandria federal district court, Brandon Van Grack, but he has not appeared in the Manafort case and is assigned to the prosecution of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.)

Manafort is currently under home confinement about two miles from the Alexandria courthouse at his condominium overlooking the Potomac. Ellis initially sounded inclined to put Manafort under what the judge called "home incarceration" — a status that would involve even more restrictions on his movement than he currently faces. However, Ellis ultimately agreed to conditions similar to those imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is overseeing the Washington case.

Jackson has said she's willing to release Manafort from home confinement once he offers assets sufficient to meet a $10 million bail requirement she imposed. She has balked at a couple of bids by Manafort to meet that threshold, but Downing said Thursday he believes those hitches are nearly ironed out. Ellis said he will also consider loosening restrictions on Manafort after getting details of the package of real estate Manafort and family members are pledging in order to secure his release.

Ellis said repeatedly Thursday he considers Manafort to be a flight risk, but Downing insisted the bail package is more than sufficient to make sure Manafort shows up for trial. Or trials.

"If he was to flee, that would leave his family in ruin," the defense attorney said.