special counsel mueller s legal appear investigative juggernaut hit a speed bump. a federal judge questioning the motivations in the prosecution of paul manafort. the judge saying it was aimed at getting him to flip on the president. lawyers for manafort argue that the charges are outside the scope of the special counsel s authority. today speaking in dallas, the president singled out the judge for praise. judge t.s. ellis who is really something very special i hear from many standpoints he is is respected person. suggested the charges before the u.s. district court for the eastern district of virginia were part of mueller s designs to pressure manafort into giving up information on president donald trump or others in the campaign.
judge t.s. ellis who is really something very special i hear from many standpoints he is a suggested person. suggested the charges before the u.s. district court for the eastern district of virginia were part of mueller s designs to pressure manafort into giving up information on president donald trump or others in the campaign. then how does this have anything to do with the campaign, the judge asked? let me tell you, folks? we re all fighting battles. but i love fighting these battles. it s really a grace. thank you. and back now with the panel. certainly i mean that a big set become for the mueller team. it was a set back. yes. i think what the judge was saying was, look, i need justification for where you re going. in in lawsuit. and so what he wanted to look at is the unredacted version, you
were very similar type of argument. we know that the regulations that we re talking about here all say right at the front these don t give individuals rights. thee are meant to talk about how the department of justice divides up its work. so the worst case no for the government is that prosecutors in the eastern district of virginia bring there case against paul manafort. absolutely. go into that for a minute. jill, there are two different case taz manafort is facing, one in d.c., one the eastern district of virginia. why would there be two different judges looking at there case. there are two different cases because the crimes that he is charged with in the eastern district of virginia are based in virginia. for example, phis his tax returns from his home in virginia. and he didn t report the income he got from his work in the ukraine. so he failed to pay federal taxes on that money. and that is a crime that occurred when he filed in virginia. so that s why that is there. and it c
returns from his home in virginia. and he didn t report the income he got from his work in the ukraine. so he failed to pay federal taxes on that money. and that is a crime that occurred when he filed in virginia. so that s why that is there. and it can be prosecuted by the u.s. attorney for the eastern district of virginia or it can be prosecuted by the special counsel depending on how the jurisdictional statement is written. and i am pretty sure that mr. mueller would not have brought those charges if they weren t within what he had been assigned by mr. rosenstein. but it won t help mr. manafort if for some reason the judge decides that mueller cannot charge him with these crimes. then the eastern district can. crimes have been committed, the grand jury found enough evidence to say he should stand trial and he should stand trial. and jill, are judges allowed to consider the likelihood that
worried that manafort might also compose, that does not, as a form former prosecutor tell you, uh-oh, this guy is going to dismiss the case. if i were the prosecutor i would rather him not have said these things but i wouldn t necessarily jump to that conclusion. he has to base his decision on the law. and we already saw that a judge in the district of columbia expressed concern about there were very similar type of argument. we know that the regulations that we re talking about here all say right at the front these don t give individuals rights. they are meant to talk about how the department of justice divides up its work. so the worst case no for the government is that prosecutors in the eastern district of virginia bring there case against paul manafort. absolutely. go into that for a minute. jill, there are two different cases that manafort is facing, one in d.c. and one in the eastern district of virginia. why would there be two different judges looking at there case. there