WASHINGTON--A federal judge on Tuesday delayed setting a trial date for President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who faces charges stemming from a special counsel's probe of allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.
Defense lawyers said the government had not produced all the evidence it gathered and they needed more time to study it and file motions. "We have limited resources," Manafort attorney Kevin Downing said. "We're not big law firms."
The government had sought a May start to the trial. But Judge Amy Berman Jackson said at Tuesday's hearing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that a trial for Manafort and his business partner Richard Gates might not start until the fall.
She admonished Gates and his lawyers for violating a gag order that prohibited discussing the case with the press after journalists were invited to attend a December legal defense fundraiser. She also agreed to release Gates from home confinement. In exchange, he agreed to post a $5 million bond, stay in the Richmond, Virginia area, abide by a curfew and wear an electronic monitoring device.
Manafort and Gates face charges that include failing to register as foreign agents for political work they did for a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party, as well as conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy against the United States.
Federal prosecutors said on Tuesday they expect to need at least three weeks to present their case to a jury. This will ensure continuing news coverage of the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which the Trump administration has repeatedly sought to discredit.
