All eyes are on Kavanaugh this morning, but I'm a few blocks away at the federal courthouse, where Paul Manafort's lawyers and prosecutors are back for a pretrial conference (you'll recall jury selection is set to begin 9/17, and opening statements are scheduled to start 9/24) 
The latest hearing in Paul Manafort's DC case just wrapped up. We got a series of rulings from the judge on what will and will not be allowed in his upcoming trial — some are similar to the EDVA case, and some are different:
- No evidence allowed about the fact that the Russian collusion probe is ongoing; judge said this means the lawyers will need to be careful about how they ask Rick Gates about his cooperation (if he testifies, that is — the govt said that wasn't for sure yet)
- The judge deferred a ruling on whether she'll let the defense argue there was selective/vindictive prosecution. Manafort's lawyers will get a chance to brief the judge on why they should be allowed to argue Manafort was only charged because of his role in the campaign
- Prosecutors will be allowed to introduce evidence about Manafort's role in the campaign; they said it was relevant in order to establish why he started creating an allegedly false narrative about his work in Ukraine that went to what he reported to the US govt
- No ruling yet on whether prosecutors can introduce evidence about what legal advice Manafort got about his foreign agent registration requirements. Judge will hear more from the lawyers about significance of a prior ruling on the privilege issue by another judge
- The judge also didn't rule yet on whether prosecutors can introduce evidence that Manafort's companies didn't report interests in foreign accounts. This was a matter of contention in EDVA as well. Defense argues the corporate entites weren't charged; govt argues it's relevant
- If Rick Gates does testify, the judge has barred any reference to or questions about extramarital affairs. This came up a bit in the EDVA trial. The judge doesn't want it in DC, saying it's not relevant
- The judge in EDVA barred references to the term "oligarch." The judge in DC left the door open, saying that if anyone wants to use it, they need to define it for the jury and not leave it out there as a mystery
- The judge also doesn't want any args about whether the work Manafort did for former Ukrainian prez Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions was good or bad — so no debates about the merits of the politics involved, just about whether what Manafort did needed to be reported
- The judge denied Manafort's motion to move the trial to Roanoke, Virginia. This was the expected outcome — at the last hearing, the judge gave not too subtle hints that she didn't think the request had much merit. The judge in EDVA denied a similar effort
- At the end, the govt argued Manafort's lawyers failed to comply with an order to disclose any expert witnesses they planned to put on. They showed the judge a doc they got from Manafort's lawyers that appeared to refer generally to expert testimony, but no name or details
- Manafort's lawyer basically admitted they didn't do what they were supposed to, and said they were still working to get the witness. The doc the judge saw isn't public, but she said it referred to international banking and money laundering issues. They have until 9/10 to file
What's next? Another pretrial conference is scheduled for next week, and that'll be focused on the defense's objections to the government's list of proposed exhibits. Jury selection still on track to start 9/17
A few other things on Paul Manafort's DC case from today:
- The jury questionnaire has been sent out to prospective jurors. They'll fill it out, return it, and the judge will see if any jurors should be removed from the pool before jury selection begins at the courthouse on 9/17
- The jury questionnaire has been sent out to prospective jurors. They'll fill it out, return it, and the judge will see if any jurors should be removed from the pool before jury selection begins at the courthouse on 9/17
- Judge Amy Berman Jackson, on the issue of lawyers making faces in front of juries, commented today that she (the judge) is an "expressive" person, but has managed to control herself during jury trials and expects the lawyers to do the same
Here's the final version of the juror questionnaire that was sent out to prospective jurors for Paul Manafort's upcoming trial in DC: assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4829… Here's the question about the Trump campaign, which prosecutors had argued against and Manafort's lawyers were okay with
The last five pages feature a list of people whose names may come up during the trial. At today's hearing, special counsel atty made clear that these are not necessarily witnesses (some of them may be) assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4829…
Note that the list includes Sam Patten, who recently pleaded guilty to failing to register as an agent for Ukraine, see: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil… Patten is a former business partner of Konstantin Kilimnik, who is Manafort's co-defendant in this case
