(CNN) One of the most consequential hearings before former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort goes to trial is unlikely to have him there to witness it.

On Friday morning, Judge TS Ellis will review several requests from defense attorneys and federal prosecutors -- including new details on why investigators swept Manafort's apartment and a storage unit for documents related to powerful Ukrainians and Russians he worked for -- as they set the terms of his bank fraud and financial crimes trial in Virginia.

The trial, the first of two criminal proceedings for Manafort, is set to begin July 25 and last about three weeks. But he is excused from being at the pretrial hearing in person Friday.

This would have been the first time he had appeared following his imprisonment in a Virginia regional jail two weeks ago after he was accused of c ontacting witnesses . Manafort likely would have appeared in the courtroom clad in a jail-issued jumpsuit, rather than his typical pinstripe business suit, as is standard in federal proceedings before a judge outside of a jury trial.

But his lawyers said earlier this week that the two hours of travel each way from Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Virginia, to the Alexandria courthouse would be excessive. The judge agreed Manafort didn't have to come to court Friday, as is his right.

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