President Donald Trump’s ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort reached an agreement Monday evening with special counsel Robert Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to dismiss an appeal of a civil case Manafort had filed against the Justice Department.
The court document announcing that all parties agreed to dismiss that appeal came just hours before the start of Manafort’s criminal trial in Virginia — the first trial borne from charges brought by the special counsel.
Manafort had brought a civil suit in January against the Justice Department, naming Mueller and Rosenstein as specific defendants. He argued that Rosenstein had exceeded his authority through the appointment of the special counsel, and that Mueller had exceeded his authority, as well.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson granted a motion in April to dismiss that case. In June, Manafort appealed that ruling to an appellate court in Washington.
Manafort was arrested and indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington District Court in late 2017 on charges of making false statements, acting as an unregistered foreign agent and conspiracy to launder money.
He is currently detained in jail ahead of his upcoming trials in two criminal cases based on charges from the special counsel: the case in Washington federal court and a case on similar charges in Virginia federal court. The latter case is scheduled to begin trial Tuesday.
It was unclear what had transpired between the parties involved that led to the joint agreement to dismiss the appeal. A spokesperson for the office of the special counsel had no comment on the dismissal.
