4 fatal flaws in Paul Manaforts lawsuit claiming Mueller cant prosecute him

[DetlefK]

https://thinkprogress.org/four-fatal-flaws-in-paul-manaforts-lawsuit-claiming-mueller-cant-prosecute-him-d40e47e09611/

1.
Ordinarily, when a criminal defendant wishes to challenge the legal basis for a prosecution against them, they raise that challenge over the course of their criminal trial. Manafort’s attorneys, however, filed a separate civil suit asking a judge to enjoin Mueller from continuing this investigation and prosecution of Manafort. That, in and of itself, is a strange tactic which risks annoying the trial judge assigned to hear his criminal trial — judges typically don’t appreciate it when you go behind their back — and there are legal doctrines in place that normally prevent the same matter from being litigated simultaneously before different judges.


2.
Manafort claims that the specific factual statement in Rosenstein’s order is not broad enough to capture Manafort’s business dealings in Ukraine, and that a broadly worded provision of that order exceeds Rosenstein’s authority.

A glaring problem with this argument is that, even if Manafort is right, it is far from clear that he is allowed to bring this challenge. The regulations Manafort relies on explicitly state that they “are not intended to, do not, and may not be relied upon to create any rights, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity, by any person or entity, in any matter, civil, criminal, or administrative.” So Manafort is claiming a right that the regulations explicitly deny him.


3.
But Manafort was indicted on charges arising out of his dealings with the Ukrainian government, not the Russians. Such an indictment, Manafort’s lawyers claim, exceeds Mueller’s authority.

It’s a dubious argument because Manafort wasn’t just working for Ukrainian politicians and a Ukrainian political party. He was working for Ukraine’s pro-Russia party.


4.
So even if Mueller’s investigation into Manafort did exceed his original authority, Mueller’s only obligation was to “consult” with Rosenstein about his decision to expand the investigation. At this point, Rosenstein would either expand Mueller’s authority or assign the new matters to another prosecutor.

So even if Manafort’s lawsuit prevails, the most that the former Trump campaign official can reasonably hope for is that a court may order Mueller to have a conversation with Rosenstein — a conversation, by the way, that may have already happened.

[jberryhill]

1. The first one is pretty obvious

I can't think of a reason why the claim can't be raised in a preliminary motion in the criminal proceeding.

I don't know that it would "annoy" the criminal trial judge, but I would guess it would annoy the heck out of the judge that gets this one on his or her docket.