U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis said Robert Mueller's team seemed to be pursuing the case in the hope that Paul Manafort will testify against others including President Donald Trump. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo Judge challenges Mueller's actions in Manafort case 'I don't see what relation this indictment has with what the special counsel is authorized to investigate,' the judge says.

A federal judge sharply challenged special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecution team Friday, questioning how its indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on financial charges relates to Mueller's core mandate to investigate alleged 2016 Russian election interference.

U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis said Mueller's team seemed to be pursuing the case — which involves bank and tax fraud — in order to "tighten the screws" on Manafort, in the hope that he will testify against others including President Donald Trump.


"I don't see what relation this indictment has with what the special counsel is authorized to investigate," Ellis said during an hourlong hearing in Alexandria, Virginia. "You don't really care about Mr. Manafort's bank fraud. ... What you really care about is what information Mr. Manafort could give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump or lead to his prosecution or impeachment."

The 77-year-old appointee of President Ronald Reagan went on to colorfully describe what he thinks Mueller's team is up to with the pressure it is putting on Manafort.

“The vernacular is to 'sing,' is what prosecutors use. What you got to be careful of is they may not only sing, they may compose,” Ellis said.

Despite the prickly, often-hostile reception Ellis gave prosecutors Friday, he issued no immediate ruling on a defense motion to toss out the case over Mueller's alleged excesses. At times, the judge suggested he may conclude that Mueller's initial jurisdiction when he was appointed last May was effectively expanded at a later point to cover the case he brought against Manafort in Virginia in February.

Some of the grilling Ellis gave Mueller's team signaled that the judge has been following news coverage of the Trump-Russia probe. The judge questioned why Mueller's office was directly pursuing the bank fraud charges against Manafort, but had handed off an investigation of Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen to prosecutors in Manhattan.

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"Why in New York did you feel it was not necessary to keep that, but it was necessary to keep this bank fraud, which I think manifestly has nothing to do with the campaign?" Ellis asked. "Why is New York different?"

Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben, a veteran Justice Department lawyer assigned to assist Mueller's office, confirmed that the Mueller team handed off some matters to prosecutors in New York, but suggested they didn't relate to the special counsel's core focus.

"We take very seriously the primary mission that was assigned to us....We are focused on that mission," Dreeben said. "We are not going off the range that the acting attorney general authorized us to do....We followed the money into the transactions that led to the charges here."

Ellis said he was wary of the notion that Mueller's team can pursue any case it wishes.

"What we don't want in this country, we don't want anyone with unfettered power," the judge said. "It's unlikely you're going to persuade me the special counsel has unlimited powers to do anything her or she wants."

During a trip to Dallas on Friday to address the National Rifle Association, Trump seized on news reports about the skepticism the judge expressed.

Calling the judge “really something special, I hear,” and “a respected person,“ Trump said Ellis validated his view that Mueller's goal was to pressure figures like Manafort to make damaging claims about Trump or others on the campaign.

“I‘ve been saying that for a long time. It‘s a witch hunt,“ the president said, reading a news account of the hearing. “None of that information has to do with Russian government information and the campaign of Donald Trump. It doesn‘t have anything to do. It‘s from years before.“

Trump also offered praise for Manafort, whom he effectively fired in August 2016.

“He was there for a short while but he's a good person, I really believe he's a good person,“ Trump said. “We‘re all fighting battles, but I love fighting these battles. It‘s really a disgrace.“

At the morning hearing in Alexandria, Ellis suggested on two occasions that the case against Manafort could be reassigned to prosecutors for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alexandria, although it was not clear how seriously he was considering that possibility or whether he thought he had the authority to require such a move.

Manafort's defense attorney, Kevin Downing, urged the judge to toss out the indictment or, at least, to demand more documentation from the Justice Department about how Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided to appoint Mueller last May and what was in the special prosecutor's scope at that time.

Downing also encouraged Ellis to reject the Mueller team's arguments that defendants have no right to insist that the Justice Department follow regulations governing the appointment of special prosecutors. He noted that the regulations were published to assure the public about what process would be followed in sensitive cases.

"It's as if they hoodwinked the entire United States," Downing said. "I don't think that can stand, your honor."

Ellis seemed to agree that the Justice Department was obliged to abide by its own policy. He urged Dreeben to shift his focus to Rosenstein's May directive. "I think you're better off arguing it's very broad," the judge said.

Dreeben insisted that Rosenstein’s May 17 order was not a detailed description of the scope of authority Rosenstein gave to Mueller. However, Dreeben was vague about whether any other written documentation was created on the subject before an August 2 memo that the Justice Department included in heavily-redacted form in a court filing last month.

"We did acquire the various investigatory threads that relate to Mr. Manafort, upon appointment of the special counsel," Dreeben said.

Ellis ordered that an unredacted version of that August memo be filed with him within two weeks, although he said it may be submitted under seal and without sharing it with Manafort's defense team.

Dreeben said nothing else in the memo related to Manafort, but the judge said he'd decide.

"I'll be the judge of what relates to the other," the judge said curtly.

Manafort, a longtime lobbyist and political consultant in the U.S. and abroad, faces two criminal indictments. One case originally filed in Washington, D.C. last October, charges him with money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent for Ukraine. The case before Ellis, filed in February, charges Manafort with bank fraud, tax evasion and failing to report overseas bank accounts.

"There’s no mention in the indictment of any Russian individuals or any Russian bank or any payment to Manafort by the Russians,” the judge noted.

Dreeben never directly responded to Ellis' suggestion that Mueller's team was trying to pressure Manafort to cooperate against Trump or others.

“Our investigative scope covers the activities that led to this case,” Dreeben said.

“It covers bank fraud in 2005 and 2007?” Ellis replied incredulously, in just one of several instances where the judge snapped at the longtime prosecutor.

At another point, when Dreeben seemed to be taking too long to address the judge’s point about pressuring Manafort, Ellis interrupted and raised his voice.

“I asked you, where am I wrong about that?” the judge said sternly.

At another juncture, Ellis chastised some of Mueller’s lawyers for nodding while at the counsel table. "Don't nod or shake your head," he told them, adding later, "Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal."

Mueller's team, who appeared unaccompanied at a hearing in March, were joined Friday by an Alexandria-based public corruption and financial crimes prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Uzo Asonye.

Ellis seemed pleased with that development. "I indicated the special counsel should have local counsel. And that's you," the judge said.

A trial in the Virginia case is set for July 10.

