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Agencies

US President Donald Trump’s embattled ex-campaign manager, Paul Manafort, has pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to new charges brought against him by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his wide-ranging investigation of Russian election meddling.
Manafort entered the plea to a revised five-count indictment; he will enter a second plea on Friday afternoon in federal court in Alexandria, where he faces 18 new and modified charges. 
Judge Amy Berman Jackson set the trial for Manafort, 68, to start on September 17 - and reprimanded him for potentially prejudicing jurors.
Play by play: how Manafort built a lavish life on alleged fraud
It was Manafort’s first appearance in court since his co-defendant and long-time deputy, Rick Gates, pleaded guilty last week in the Mueller probe.
Mueller persuaded Gates to cooperate with him on the probe as part of a plea deal - dialing up the legal pressure on Manafort, who has not opted to help investigators. Several charges against Gates were dropped on Tuesday.

While in court on Wednesday, Manafort was scolded by Jackson for publicly maintaining his own innocence after Gates’ plea - something that she said could prejudice a jury.
“I can certainly understand the impulse to not let that go by without asserting your innocence,” Jackson told Manafort. But it can’t happen again, she said, or she could hold him in contempt.
On October 30, Manafort, 68, pleaded not guilty with Gates in the first disclosed charges in Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. 
The men were originally accused in a 12-count indictment of conspiring to defraud the United States since 2006 by hiding tens of millions of dollars from their work for a Russia-friendly political party in Ukraine and former president Viktor Yanukovich.
Trump ex-aide Rick Gates pleads guilty and will aid in Russia probe
On Friday, Gates, 45, pleaded guilty to reduced charges in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors. He is the third former Trump aide to publicly admit guilt in Mueller’s probe.
In conjunction with Gates’s plea deal, Mueller’s team added tax evasion and bank fraud charges against Manafort.
He already faced counts alleging conspiracy to launder more than US$30 million, making false statements, failing to follow lobbying disclosure laws and working as an unregistered foreign agent. 

Manafort has a home in Virginia and the counts of lying on tax returns and conspiring to commit bank fraud were filed there because of a technical requirement that, as a defendant, he appear in federal court in the state in which he filed tax returns.
A court filing indicated prosecutors initially sought to combine the new charges with the pre-existing indictment in federal court in Washington.
But Manafort would have had to agree – and he declined to, leading to the possibility of separate trials in neighbouring jurisdictions.
This week’s arraignments were scheduled after, Jackson a Washington judge, granted Manafort permission to travel to Long Island to attend the wake and funeral of his father-in-law, who died Saturday, and to return Tuesday to his Alexandria residence, where he remains in home confinement.
Mueller brings new charges against ex-Trump aides Manafort and Gates
Manafort is still under house arrest after Jackson last week rejected his bid to revise a previously approved US$10 million bail deal by swapping out the properties he would use as security for bail.
Prosecutors opposed Manafort’s request, alleging he was involved in additional bank fraud conspiracies in which they contend Manafort inflated his income to get a US$9.5 million loan secured by property he falsely said was mortgage-free. 


Manafort asserted his innocence of all counts in a statement through spokesman Jason Maloni last week. 
“The new allegations against Mr Manafort, once again, have nothing to do with Russia and 2016 election interference/collusion,” the statement said. 
“Mr Manafort is confident that he will be acquitted and violations of his constitutional rights will be remedied.”
Also before Jackson is Manafort’s lawsuit challenging his indictment and Mueller’s appointment as special counsel, arguing Deputy Attorney General Rod J Rosenstein and Mueller have exceeded their authority in charging him. 
The Justice Department has asked Jackson to toss out the case, saying the proper forum for dismissing charges is his criminal case.
It has also emerged on Wednesday that some of the charges against Gates were dropped on Tuesday.
A court filing showed that prosecutors working for Robert Mueller dropped the charges just days after he was indicted for participating in a conspiracy to hide millions of dollars in fees he was paid for lobbying work and evade US taxes.
This report includes information from Associated Press, The Guardian, Reuters and The Washington Post.


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Donald Trump’s former aide Paul Manafort pleads not guilty ahead of September trial

Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, exits the E Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse on Wednesday in Washington. This is Manafort’s first court appearance since his long-time deputy Rick Gates pleaded guilty last week in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. Photo: Getty Images via AFP 

FILE - In this file photo dated Friday, Nov. 25, 2016, Ukraine's ousted president Viktor Yanukovych gestures as he speaks at a news conference in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Ukrainian opposition lawmaker Serhiy Leshchenko, who helped uncover off-the-books payments to President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, said Saturday Feb. 24, 2018, a one-time Austrian chancellor was among the European politicians secretly paid to lobby for Ukraine and its then president Yanukovych. (AP Photo, FILE)

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 23: Richard Gates,(C), former associate to Paul Manafort, leaves the Prettyman Federal Courthouse, as a prostester holds up a sign, on February 23, 2018 in Washington, DC. Gates pleaded guilty to two criminal charges in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign. Mark Wilson/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates pleads guilty in Mueller probe, but Paul Manafort maintains innocence

Rick Gates (seen departing Federal District Court in Washington on February 14) is expected to plead guilty to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s charges in his Russia investigation, sources said. Photo: AP

Alex Van der Zwaan, former associate at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom UK LLP, exits Federal Court in Washington, D.C., U.S. on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018. Van der Zwaan was charged on February 16 with making false statements to federal authorities as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

(FILES) In this file photo taken on January 16, 2018 Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort(L) and his wife Kathleen arrive at the Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, DC. The US special prosecutor investigating Moscow's meddling in the 2016 presidential election on February 16, 2018 indicted 13 Russians for allegedly running a secret campaign to tilt the vote, prompting claims of vindication from President Donald Trump.The indictment -- which includes the first charges laid by special counsel Robert Mueller for election interference -- detailed a stunning operation launched in 2014 in a bid to sow social division in the US and influence American politics "including the presidential election of 2016." Four Trump campaign officials, including his campaign manager Paul Manafort and his national security advisor Michael Flynn, have already been indicted as part of Mueller's broader investigation. / AFP PHOTO / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / CHIP SOMODEVILLA

Donald Trump, left, and Rick Gates on stage during the sound checks in Quicken Arena for the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. Gates is expected to plead guilty in the Russia investigation. (Mark Reinstein/Zuma Press/TNS)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on June 21, 2017 former FBI Director Robert Mueller, special counsel on the Russian investigation, leaves following a meeting with members of the US Senate Judiciary Committee at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. Special prosecutor Robert Mueller unveiled charges of lying on February 20, 2018 against a lawyer linked to a former campaign aide of President Donald Trump, as the probe into Russian election meddling gains pace. Mueller's powerful team of investigators accused Alex Van Der Zwaan of knowingly making false statements about his communications with Richard Gates, a former senior official on the Trump campaign who is under indictment on money laundering and tax-related charges linked to his work in Ukraine. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB

Robert Mueller brings new charges against ex-Trump associates Paul Manafort and Rick Gates

Paul Manafort (pictured on November 6), US President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, leaves the federal courthouse in Washington. He and associate Rick Gates were given further charges in Robert Mueller’s Russia probe on Friday. Photo: AP

Alex van der Zwaan leaves Federal District Court in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018. Alex van der Zwaan, who worked at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom until he was fired last year formally pleaded guilty to a single charge of making false statements. He admitted Tuesday he lied to federal investigators working for special counsel Robert Mueller. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Rick Gates, left, with his lawyer Tom Green, depart Federal District Court, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018, in Washington. Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for President Donald Trump, and his business associate Rick Gates were in federal court on Wednesday for a routine status conference. Both were indicted in October on charges stemming from foreign lobbying work in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

How ex-Trump campaigner Manafort built his lavish life of mansions and fine art with influence peddling and alleged fraud

For years, Paul Manafort used offshore accounts, hidden income, falsified documents and laundered cash to maintain his lush life of multiple homes, fine art, exquisite clothes and exotic travel, the government says. Photo: TNS

Rick Gates, former deputy campaign manager for Donald Trump, exits Federal Court in Washington on Friday. Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed conspiracy and false-statement counts against Gates, adding a third set of charges as Gates entered a guilty plea and agreed to cooperate in the Russia probe. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Andrew Harrer

Anti-government forces guard the entrance of the Ukrainian parliament, which they took control of, as President Viktor Yanukovich decided not to resign, in Kiev, on Febuary 22, 2014. Earlier in the day, Ukraine's parliament voted to hold early presidential elections on May 25, passing a resolution stating that Viktor Yanukovych had failed to properly fulfil his duties as president. The resolution said that Yanukovych "is removing himself (from power) because he is not fulfilling his obligations, and (that parliament) is setting elections for May 25." AFP PHOTO / PIERO QUARANTA

People look through windows of the Mezhyhirya residence of Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovich as anti-government protesters and journalists walk on the grounds in the village Novi Petrivtsi, outside Kiev February 22, 2014. Hundreds of people entered the grounds of Yanukovich's sprawling residence outside Kiev on Saturday but had not gone inside the building itself, a Reuters photographer said. REUTERS/Konstantin Chernichkin (UKRAINE - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)

Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovich arrives to sign an EU-mediated peace deal with opposition leaders, aiming to end a violent standoff that has left dozens dead and opening the way for a early presidential election this year, at the presidential headquarters in Kiev February 21, 2014. Russian-backed Yanukovich - under pressure to quit from the mass demonstrations in Kiev - earlier offered a series of concessions to his pro-European opponents, including a national unity government and constitutional change to reduce his powers, as well as the presidential vote. REUTERS/Konstantin Chernichkin (UKRAINE - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)

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Manafort faces two indictments and multiple charge, including failing to register as a foreign agent for lobbying work for the pro-Kremlin government of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych


Manafort faces two indictments and multiple charges, including failing to register as a foreign agent for lobbying work for the pro-Kremlin government of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych


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