Free Republic

There are definite signs of big trouble in the prosecution of Paul Manafort for crimes unrelated to Russia or the Trump campaign.  Yesterday saw the judge in the case, T.S. Ellis, rebuke the prosecution for seeking to incite class envy and jealousy among jurors. But for its part, the prosecution let slip a shocking revelation: that it may not even call to the stand its star witness against Manafort, his former business partner Rick Gates. Jeff Mordock reports in The Washington Times: The stunning disclosure came as prosecutor Uzo Asonye was questioning an FBI agent about a financial document...

Special counsel Robert Mueller on Thursday filed a request for 70 blank subpoenas in the Eastern District of Virginia, where former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The two-page filing reveals little, but says that that each subpoena recipient must appear in the Alexandria, Va., courthouse on July 10 to testify in the case. The 70 blank subpoenas amount to 35 total possible subpoenas — in each case, a subpoena is needed for the witness and another is needed for the defense. Court documents filed in April show that Mueller's team was pushing to subpoena 35 witnesses in the trial.

Uzo Asonye, an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, is joining Mueller’s stable of prosecutors to work as local counsel on the case against Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman who has been indicted on money laundering and bank fraud charges. Asonye worked at the firm O’Melveny & Myers before joining the U.S. attorney’s office in 2010. Asonye donated $900 to Clinton’s presidential campaign from January to April 2008, according to Federal Election Commission records. He has not donated to any other national political campaigns since then. Asonye is just the latest Democrat to join...