There were two rulings in Paul Manafort's criminal cases yesterday. The media played them as if they actually mean something important -- which they don't.
The first supposed big ruling came in DC federal court where the judge rules that some of the charges against Manafort would not be dismissed. The media played this as a big win for the special prosecutor. It wasn't. Manafort had claimed that he was facing two different charges for the same alleged lie he told to the FBI. He said he should only be charged once; two charges made him look guilty supposedly. The judge held that the issue could be handled by proper jury instructions but also said that if the issue remained, Manafort could raise it again after a verdict. In other words, the judge put the whole issue off with no final decision. Yawn.
The second blockbuster ruling came as Manafort's trial in Virginia federal court was put off by the judge's order for two weeks. I've actually seen analysts who said that this shows that the court is struggling with pending motions that could affect the trial. Don't they listen? The judge said that a family member was going to have a medical procedure at the time when the trial was supposed to go ahead. That made the judge unavailable so he put the trial off for two weeks. The delay had nothing to do with Manafort or Mueller or anyone outside the judge's family. Again, yawn.
The first supposed big ruling came in DC federal court where the judge rules that some of the charges against Manafort would not be dismissed. The media played this as a big win for the special prosecutor. It wasn't. Manafort had claimed that he was facing two different charges for the same alleged lie he told to the FBI. He said he should only be charged once; two charges made him look guilty supposedly. The judge held that the issue could be handled by proper jury instructions but also said that if the issue remained, Manafort could raise it again after a verdict. In other words, the judge put the whole issue off with no final decision. Yawn.
The second blockbuster ruling came as Manafort's trial in Virginia federal court was put off by the judge's order for two weeks. I've actually seen analysts who said that this shows that the court is struggling with pending motions that could affect the trial. Don't they listen? The judge said that a family member was going to have a medical procedure at the time when the trial was supposed to go ahead. That made the judge unavailable so he put the trial off for two weeks. The delay had nothing to do with Manafort or Mueller or anyone outside the judge's family. Again, yawn.
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