US Judge Says Mueller Prosecutes Manafort Only to Get to Trump - Reports

US District Judge Thomas Selby Ellis took a skeptical approach to the purposes of lawyers from the office of Special Counsel Mueller, MSNBC reported from outside the courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia. The Judge has not yet ruled on Manafort's motion to dismiss the charges against him, the report added.

"You don't really care about Mr. Manafort's bank fraud," Judge Ellis said, "You really care about getting information Mr. Manafort can give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump and lead to his prosecution or impeachment."

Just a week ago Judge Jackson in Washington, DC, threw out a civil lawsuit, filed by Manafort against the Department of Justice. Manafort claimed that Robert Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein went beyond their power, as the charges had nothing to do with the 2016 Presidential election.

Mueller has charged President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman with conspiracy, money-laundering, and acting as an unregistered foreign agent for the former Ukrainian president, as part of Mueller's probe into the case of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Kremlin and Trump.