Trump's ex-campaign manager Paul Manafort pleads not guilty to new charges in Russia probe

U.S. President Donald Trump'sformer campaign manager Paul Manafort pleaded not guilty onWednesday to a new indictment brought against him in theinvestigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 electionand will face trial in September.

Special counsel Robert Mueller, who is running the Russiaprobe, is dialling up the legal pressure on Manafort, who has opted not to co-operate with investigators.

Manafort's former business partner Rick Gates, another Trumpex-campaign official, decided last week to co-operate with theinvestigation.

Manafort is facing two separate indictments on an array ofcharges, including conspiracy to launder money, filing false taxreturns, bank fraud, and failing to register as a foreign agentdespite lobbying in the United States for the pro-KremlinUkrainian government of former president Viktor Yanukovych.

Manafort's trial is expected to last for several weeks, andcould stretch on through November's midterm electionsmakingheadlines at a time when Republicans are fighting to maintaintheir majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson set the trialto start Sept. 17 in Washington, D.C.

Alleged money laundering

Prosecutors allege that Manafort, with Gates's assistance,laundered more than $30 million US and duped banks into lendingmoney. They say the pair used funds from secret offshoreaccounts to enjoy a life of luxury.

None of the charges against the pair make reference toalleged Russian interference in the 2016 election nor accusations of collusion between Moscow and Trump's campaign.

Mueller, appointed by the Department of Justice last year toinvestigate Russia's role in the election and possible collusionby the Trump campaign, has a broad mandate that allows him tolook into any wrongdoing he uncovers in the probe.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Moscow soughtto meddle in the campaign to tilt the vote in favour of Trump,the Republican candidate, including by hacking the emails ofleading Democrats and distributing disinformation and propagandaonline.

Russia has denied the accusations of interference. Trump hassaid there was no collusion and denied any attempt to obstructMueller's probe.

Manafort was Trump's campaign manager for five months in2016. He was originally indicted last year with Gates, Trump'sformer deputy campaign manager.

A court filing on Friday charged that between 2008 and 2017,Gates and Manafort devised a scheme to obtain money and propertyby making false representations to banks and other financialinstitutions. Toward the end of that period they worked forTrump's campaign.

Duelling cases

Manafort is facing two separate indictments one filed inthe federal court in Washington, D.C., and a second in a federalcourt in Alexandria, Va.

The Washington one charges him with conspiracy to laundermoney, conspiracy against the United States, making false statements, and charges in connection with failing to registeras a foreign agent for Ukraine.

The Virginia indictment charges him with bank fraud, filingfalse tax returns and failing to report foreign bank accounts to the U.S. government.

Manafort is expected to appear for a second hearing in theAlexandria court on Friday, where he will also plead not guiltyto the charges.

The two separate indictments against him in the District ofColumbia and Virginia are seen as unusual. Normally such charges would be consolidated in one court,but Manafort has refused to allow this, which might be a legaltactic meant to make Mueller's case more difficult.

The two parallel cases could complicate matters for bothsides, since each indictment to a large extent relies on the same underlying evidence.

Judge Jackson on Wednesday fretted about this, sayingduelling cases could lead to a "duplicative" amount of work, particularly for the defence, and potentially "inconsistentrulings" by the two judges.

Gates made a plea deal last week on charges that he lied toinvestigators and conspired against the United States. The moveadded to pressure on Manafort to cut a deal himself but he hasmaintained his innocence.