Paul Manafort's defense argued that media coverage of his predicament was particularly intense in the Washington area and likely poisoned the jury pool. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo Judge turns down Manafort's bid to move Virginia trial

A federal judge has rejected former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's bid to have his looming trial on tax and bank-fraud charges moved from Alexandria, Virginia, to Roanoke, about 200 miles outside the Beltway.

U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled Tuesday that media attention to Manafort's prosecution and to special counsel Robert Mueller's high-profile investigation has not been so intense that it threatens the veteran lobbyist's ability to get a fair trial.


Ellis said the "substantial media attention" was understandable but had not produced the "carnival or circus atmosphere" deemed to warrant a change of venue in other cases.

"Although there has been extensive press coverage of defendant's pretrial proceedings, that coverage has not disrupted the 'judicial serenity and calm' to which the defendant is entitled," the judge wrote in his eight-page order.

Manafort's defense argued that media coverage of his predicament was particularly intense in the Washington area and likely poisoned the jury pool. The defense attorneys also made a more unusual argument: that Manafort's fair-trial rights were undermined by the fact that the metro area's voters leaned decisively in favor of Hillary Clinton and against Donald Trump in the 2016 election.

However, Ellis did not buy into the idea that the political leanings of the region are a valid reason to change venue in a criminal case.

"It would be inappropriate for courts to move trials around the country in cases of this sort until a district could be found where a defendant's political views were shared by at least as many persons in the district as those with contrary views. The Constitution does not require a search for this type of district; instead, the Constitution requires only that a defendant be tried by fair and impartial jurors," Ellis wrote. "And on the basis of the record presented thus far, there is no reason to believe that fair and impartial jurors cannot be found in the Eastern District of Virginia."

Ellis also took issue with some of the Manafort lawyers' presumptions about the jurors likely to be called in the case.

"The Eastern District of Virginia jury pool is selected from cities and counties throughout Northern Virginia, a large geographic area that has a population of approximately 3,000,000 people," the judge added. "Defendant cites several polls that suggest Alexandria voters are more closely aligned with the Democratic Party than the Republican Party. Importantly, however, these polls do not account for potential jurors residing in areas within this Division that include higher concentrations of conservative or Republican voters. Moreover, jurors' political leanings are not, by themselves, evidence that those jurors cannot fairly and impartially consider the evidence presented and apply the law as instructed by the Court."

The judge said it appeared that any concerns about juror bias could be addressed through the questioning of potential jurors during the trial process known as voir dire.

A spokesman for Manafort declined to comment on the ruling.

Potential jurors for the trial are expected to arrive at the Alexandria courthouse next Tuesday, with jury selection set to begin on Wednesday. However, the start date for the trial is still uncertain since a defense motion to delay the trial by several months remains unresolved.

The defense has asked Ellis to postpone the Alexandria trial until after another trial Manafort faces in Washington on charges of money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent in connection with his Ukraine-related lobbying work. That trial, also being prosecuted by Mueller's office, is currently scheduled to begin Sept. 17.