It was revealed Friday the federal judge presiding over special counsel Robert Mueller’s fraud case against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort believes the case is not really about the charges Mueller has brought against Manafort.

Instead, the judge alleged Mueller is using Manafort as a pawn to achieve his ultimate goal: “prosecution or impeachment” of President Donald Trump. CNN broke the story, but now the official court transcripts have been leaked. What they reveal is an epic showdown between Mueller attorney Michael Dreeben and U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis.

The transcripts show Ellis repeatedly grill Dreeben over how their current case against Manafort has anything to do with Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, which is the scope of Mueller’s investigation. The charges Mueller brought against Manafort are for crimes that mostly happened more than a decade ago.

Read the full transcript below:

US v Manafort Full Text Transcript Hearing Motion May 4 2018 by Scott Johnson on Scribd

Dreeben repeatedly dodges Ellis’ questions, forcing the judge to pry answers out of the special counsel’s team. And just as reported, the judge exposed the case for exactly what he believes it is: an attempt to gain leverage on Manafort that will eventually be used against Trump.

“You really care about what information Mr. Manafort can give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump or lead to his prosecution or impeachment or whatever. That’s what you’re really interested in,” Ellis said. The transcripts show Manafort’s lawyer agreed with the judge’s statement – READ MORE