Judge in Manafort trial orders prosecutors to stop 'besmirching' Manafort with pictures of his fancy suits
The judge has spoken, and he's sick of Paul Manafort's $33,000 suits.
At the start of day three in the former Trump campaign chair's trial, Judge T.S. Ellis moved to block prosecutors from introducing more picture evidence of Manafort's lavish lifestyle, NBC News reports. Prosecutors on Thursday argued that Manafort's menswear collection proves his lust for luxury, but Ellis says it could "besmirch the defendant."
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To illustrate Manafort's supposed greed, U.S. attorneys introduced $900,000 receipts from high-end Manhattan boutiques, stories of casually purchased $1.9 million homes, and 24 pictures of Manafort's pricey jackets, The New York Times reports. But Ellis, who says he doesn't recognize brands that aren't "Men's Wearhouse," apparently snapped Wednesday during a drawn-out definition of Manafort's "cedar pergola." On Thursday, he decided all these wild examples could "engender bias against rich people" even though it's not a crime to have money, per NBC News.
It is, however, a crime of manners to loquaciously explain a "pergola" when a quick image search would do the trick.
