Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, and his deputy, Rick Gates, made their first court appearance Thursday in front of the judge in charge of their case, and she quickly scolded Manafort's attorney.
The attorney, Kevin Downing, spoke to the media after Manafort was indicted on Monday, and Judge Amy Berman Jackson reminded him Thursday, "This is a criminal trial, not a public relations campaign." Manafort and Gates have been indicted on 12 counts, including conspiracy against the U.S., conspiracy to launder money, and failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts; both pleaded not guilty and have been under house arrest since turning themselves in on Monday.
Downing asked Berman Jackson for Manafort's monitoring device to be removed, but it's not likely that will happen — court documents unsealed earlier this week state that prosecutors see Manafort and Gates as flight risks, and Manafort has registered an email and phone number using an alias and had three separate U.S. passports with different numbers. If found guilty, both men face more than 10 years in prison.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Why ‘anti-Islam’ bikers are guarding Gaza aid sitesIn The Spotlight Members of Infidels MC, who regard themselves as modern Crusaders, among private security guards at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites
-
China: Xi seeks to fill America’s voidFeature Trump’s tariffs are pushing nations eastward as Xi Jinping focuses on strengthening ties with global leaders
-
Rebrands: Bringing back the War DepartmentFeature Trump revives the Department of Defense’s former name
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suitSpeed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriageSpeed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
