Judge Rejects Paul Manafort’s Bid to Toss Charges in Mueller Probe

A federal judge rejected an attempt by former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to throw out the charges special counsel Robert Mueller is pursuing against him. Manafort argued that the tax and bank fraud charges Mueller brought against him are irrelevant to Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the U.S. presidential elections. Mueller’s team argued that a memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein allowed Mueller to investigate financial crimes linked to Manafort’s work in Ukraine and put the charges in his purview.