Then the judge asked if they had farmed out the Cohen case as being unrelated, thereby making it a local prosecution, then why wouldn't they have done likewise with the Manafort case..
And the answer?
"Mr. Dreeben said the special counsel’s office takes “very seriously” the “primary mission” it was assigned in examining Russian interference in the 2016 election, adding that if it uncovered criminal activity that wasn’t necessarily related, they would refer it to another office. "
This one isn't unrelated.
So stay tuned lady... this one isn't going to be tossed. Even if it were, the the Eastern District of Virginia would just pick it up. The fraud charges aren't going away.
My own theory of the case is that Manafort came on to manage the Trump campaign in exchange for Oleg Deripaska dropping a multi-million dollar lawsuit against him. (I think it was Deripaska... one of them anyway) But I'm just speculating. I don't speak to Robert Mueller's office. That said, there has to have been some reason that Manafort came on for free.
