Napolitano: Judge’s Tough Talk Against Mueller at Manafort Hearing is ‘Irrelevant’

Hemmer wound up his pitch, noting, “T.S. Ellis III–great name by the way–was challenging the government’s case on Friday afternoon, saying, ‘This is outside the bounds of what the definition of a special counsel is all about; you’re trying to squeeze this guy Manafort in order to get to another target. And that target’s the president.’ You heard it.” Napolitano affirmed.

Hemmer then asked, “What did you think?” To which Napolitano replied:

Nothing. Because it’s just the personal opinion of the judge. There’s no evidence in the courtroom in front of him to justify that kind of an opinion. It drew enormous headlines over the weekend because it’s a political narrative with which the Trump supporters agree. It’s probably correct but it is irrelevant to his ruling on the matter.


Hemmer then tried his best to salvage the quickly-spiraling segment. He asked, “Now, so the attorney for Manafort from the very beginning, I believe, on day one he said this is gonna be our defense. ‘You are outside of your bounds.’ And you’re saying that’s good for an opinion but it’s not good from a legal standpoint. I understand that. The judge could still rule this way. Would Manafort be off the hook if that were to happen?”

Napolitano shut Hemmer down once again. He said:

No. If Judge Ellis dismisses this indictment on the theory that Bob Mueller did not have the jurisdiction to prosecute this charge in this venue in Virginia, then the local federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia will get an identical indictment from another grand jury and they will prosecute it. There’s no ‘Out of the woods.’

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