The federal judge overseeing the criminal case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates has issued a gag order limiting comments to the media and the public by lawyers, defendants and witnesses in the case.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson's
directive released Wednesday doesn't ban such statements outright, but prohibits any remarks that "pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case."
At
a hearing last week, Jackson urged lawyers to make their arguments in court and "not on the courthouse steps." She also appeared to criticize a statement one of Manafort's lawyers made outside court calling the charges against his client "ridiculous."
"This is a criminal trial, and it's not a public relations campaign," the judge warned.
Jackson offered both defendants and the government a chance to weigh in about the order before she issued it. No one did.
Manafort and Gates — who also worked for a time as a top Trump campaign official — were arraigned last week in the first known indictment from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race and the Trump campaign's potential complicity in that activity. Both men entered not guilty pleas.
The charges of money laundering and failing to register as foreign agents for the government of Ukraine don't have any direct relation to the Trump campaign, although prosecutors allege some actions aimed at covering about aspects of the scheme took place while the pair worked for Trump.
Former Justice Department prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg called the gag order an “appropriate” move in the Manafort case but still questioned its effect.
“It doesn’t apply to the president and he’s the one who’s going to be shooting off his mouth on this more than anyone else,” Zeidenberg said.
Jackson's order applies to "potential witnesses," but it's unclear how broadly that category would sweep.
That Manafort’s attorneys have to limit their public statements shouldn’t have much impact, Zeidenberg predicted.
“It’s not going to matter to a D.C. jury,” he said. “They’re trying to speak to a larger audience.”
Regardless of the order, Manafort supporters in conservative media will take up his side.
“They’ll get their version of events out that way,” the ex-prosecutor said.
Dis guy
