TPM "Inside The Court Room After The Manafort Indictment Dropped"

[NRaleighLiberal]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/manafort-courtroom-inside-details

By TIERNEY SNEED Published OCTOBER 30, 2017 6:11 PM

Even before Paul Manafort left his home in Alexandria, Virginia, early Monday morning to turn himself in to the FBI, reporters were waiting at the DC federal courthouse where he would appear later in the day.

By 1:30 p.m. ET, when Manafort and his longtime business partner Rick Gates, were schedule for an initial appearance, a queue of reporters lined the entire hallway up to U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson’s courtroom, a short walk from where the grand jury that approved of their indictment has been meeting.


For Russia investigation that has featured many surprise twists and turns, the dropping of a sprawling indictment against Manafort and Gates was a much anticipated blockbuster occasion. They are accused of an assortment of financial crimes, as well as failing to disclose foreign lobbying, not directly connected to the 2016 campaign.



Doodle of reporters waiting on 2nd floor of E. Barrett Prettyman courthouse for #Manafort court appearance. #ManafortMonday pic.twitter.com/gJTCOntXNw

— Arthur Lien (@Courtartist) October 30, 2017

The reporters awaiting Manafort’s and Gates’ arrival packed the last four rows of Robinson’s courtroom, while attorneys for the government clustered in the front two rows. Speaking for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation was Greg Andres, a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s criminal division. He was joined in the well by Andrew Weissman, an aggressive former federal prosecutor who has already made his mark on the Mueller probe.



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