Prosecutors defend searches of Manafort's storage locker, condo
Source: Politico
Special counsel Mueller's team says FBI's first look at the unit had consent of Manafort's assistant
By JOSH GERSTEIN 04/23/2018 09:25 PM EDT Updated 04/23/2018 10:19 PM EDT
Prosecutors from special counsel Robert Mueller's office are defending the legality of searches the FBI conducted last year of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's Alexandria, Virginia, condo and a storage locker he used a couple of miles away.
Manafort's defense team has asked a federal judge in Washington to rule the searches illegal and exclude the evidence from a future trial he faces on charges of money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent for his work related to Ukraine.
The search of the storage locker just off Duke Street took place on May 27. Agents showed up at Manafort's condo overlooking the Potomac River just after 6 a.m. on July 27. Some reports said the FBI obtained a so-called no-knock warrant out of fears Manafort would destroy records or data, but prosecutors said in a new court filing Monday night that "the warrant application had not sought permission to enter without knocking."
A key defense argument revolves around the fact that the FBI obtained the cooperation of an assistant to Manafort, Alexander Trusko, to gain access to the storage locker the day before the court-ordered search on May 27.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/23/mueller-prosecutors-defend-storage-locker-search-547472