Paul Manafort hasn’t been seen in public for a while, but today photographers captured him as he walked into a Manhattan Courtroom to face state charges. The former Trump campaign chairman made his way through the corridor with a smile on his face, dressed in a blue prison jumpsuit, with his hands cuffed in the fr0nt.
Just the chairman of the the president's 2016 campaign making a perp walk, nothing to see here, carry on. pic.twitter.com/4LVXWlhFxi
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) June 27, 2019
Inside the courtroom, Manafort pled not guilty to 16 counts that included mortgage fraud, falsifying business records, conspiracy and more. CNBC says, “Judge Maxwell Wiley ordered him kept in the nearby federal jail in lower Manhattan, where he has been since last week. The 70-year-old Manafort already is serving a federal prison sentence of seven-and-a-half years.”
The AP adds, “Paul Manafort’s lawyer says he intends to seek the dismissal of state mortgage fraud charges, citing New York’s strong double jeopardy protections… In May, state lawmakers passed a bill meant to ensure that state prosecutors could pursue charges against anyone granted a presidential pardon for similar federal crimes.”
Check out the AP’s video of Manafort above.