Manafort Lawyers Accidentally Included Apparent Internal Memo About the Press in Latest Court Filing

[pnwmom]

Source: Law & Crime (Dan Abrams)

Lawyers for Paul Manafort apparently made a bit of an error Wednesday by including an internal memo in a public court filing. Manafort’s attorneys are fighting the prosecution’s attempt to change the court schedule, and as part of their motion, included a “Text of Proposed Order.” Except, that’s not what they included.

It was this:

The document is titled “DOJ [Department of Justice], OSC [Office of Special Counsel] and “The Press. ”

The notes on the document appear to specifically track news stories about the infamous black ledger. Because the notes are so cryptic, it’s a bit hard to interpret what exactly the Manafort lawyers are after.

However, the Manafort team seems to be trying to figure out (or at least document) who was giving information to the Associated Press about Manafort’s finances. The notes also suggest that federal investigators might have had an informant (CS-1) inside Manafort’s company who was turning over information. In legal speak, usually when the feds denote “CS-1” they are talking about a “confidential source” that they are using in a case.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/manafort-lawyers-accidentally-included-apparent-internal-memo-about-the-press-in-latest-court-filing/

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I haven't looked at the document yet -- so I'm reserving judgment on whether this was really an accidental posting or purposeful.

[TalenaGor]

1. can this interfere w manaforts case?

[BigmanPigman]

2. Ha, ha!

Rachel covered this tonight and I laughed and laughed. Cracker Jack attorneys he has...how much does he pay them? On second thought, does he pay them?

[sharedvalues]

3. Hes on round 3. The good lawyers at Wilmer fired him.

Then another good firm fired him.
Are these round 3 lawyers any good?

[christx30]

11. I really hope his lawyers get better.

I don't want him to be able to appeal his conviction or sentence based on the legal incompetence of his counsel. Guys like this will try anything to get out of responsibility for their actions.

[sharedvalues]

14. He's going to jail for life when this is done, don't worry.

Only question is whether the GOP billionaire-tools and racists go down with him. We can hope. NRA looks like they may be dirty, based on their behavior last few days.

[SunSeeker]

4. It is really disturbing how much their defense strategy relies on manipulating the press.

But I guess if you have a weak legal defense, you attack the prosecutor in the press. It worked for OJ.

[jberryhill]

5. I find it odd that his lawyers couldnt spell affidavit

Last edited Thu Jan 25, 2018, 07:45 AM - Edit history (1)

That’s an everyday word in legal practice.

[FSogol]

10. Affidavit is spelled differently in Russian.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Rachel talked about this on her show last night

She thinks they were "internal notes" made by the lawyers that were accidentally uploaded on the public site instead of a different document.

[Scarsdale]

7. Honesty is the

best policy. Unless you are knee deep in dirt, why all this subterfuge? Are there ANY honest, upstanding people associated with tRump? This administration is a lawyers dream. Never ending lawsuits, going from one to the next. What a group of sleazy people tRump has around himself.

[tanyev]

8. Actually, a lawyer's dream client would follow advice and pay their bills on time.

And the Trumpkins aren't so good at either one of those.

[Laxman]

9. They're Pulling Appart The Affidavit.....

that the government used to obtain a search warrant. It's one of two things-could be both. They are trying to look for defects in the rationale for the search warrant so they can claim a 4th Amendment violation to nullify the warrant and exclude any evidence obtained as a result of the search or they are trying to decipher the language of the affidavit as part of an analysis of the details of the government case. They're trying to use known facts to ascertain things that may not have been provided to them as part of pre-trial discovery-like the identity of a confidential informant. Revealing this memo is neither nefarious nor particularly damaging. I'd have to go to the actual affidavit for the search warrant to be sure but it appears from this snippet that someone in Manafort's organization leaked information to a reporter which resulted in this article: https://www.apnews.com/20cfc75c82eb4a67b94e624e97207e23 AP Exclusive: Manafort firm received Ukraine ledger payout . That likely caught the attention of Federal prosecutors. The prosecutor's had to have had contact with this source and know who it is or they would not have been able to use the term "CS-1" in the affidavit. This is more of a curiosity for figuring out just what the case against Manafort is than anything else.

[pnwmom]

13. Thanks, Laxman! This makes sense. n/t

[Hekate]

12. KnR