Federal judge T. S. Ellis on Monday agreed to delay the trial of former Trump campaign Paul Manafort. This comes after Manafort’s lawyers argued on Monday that they needed more time to review thousands of documents that had just recently provided by the prosecutors. Judge Ellis also ordered the government to provide the defense with a full witness list.
Five witnesses names had not been previously disclosed because they have been provided immunity in exchange for their testimony. However, we now know who those witnesses are. “The witnesses are James Brennan, Donna Duggan, Conor O’Brien, Cindy Laporta and Dennis Raico,” according to USA Today.
Manafort’s trial was expected to begin on Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., but the ruling from Judge T.S. Ellis will delay it until July 31 reports The Hill.
Manaforts legal team argued that they needed more time to review more than 120,000 pages of new documents that were provided by the prosecutors. Roughly a third of them were taken from devices belonging to the longtime associate of Manafort, Richard Gates. Gates was charged with Manafort and is now cooperating with the special counsel.
“These 120,000 pages are really at the heart of the issue,” Manafort attorney Kevin Downing said Monday.
In addition to granting the delay, Ellis also granted Mueller’s request to grant immunity for five witnesses in Manafort’s trial.
Manafort has been indicted on 16 counts of tax and bank fraud that also include charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and failure to file reports of foreign bank accounts. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges reports The Hill.