Manafort assistant gave the FBI access to the storage locker: testimony



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A personal assistant to Paul Manafort granted an FBI agent access to a storage locker in Virginia, allowing the government to obtain evidence that the former President Donald Trump's campaign The manager is trying to suppress, according to a testimony Friday in a federal court hearing.

FBI Special Agent Jeff Pfeiffer made the disclosure to a hearing to consider whether box evidence and a separate search of the Manafort House, in Washington, DC, suburb of Alexandria, could be used for a trial scheduled in July

The hearing will take place three days after the trial TS Ellis rejected Manafort's motion to dismiss outright the case in US District Court for the District East from Virginia. The judge rejected Manafort's argument that Special Adviser Robert Mueller had been improperly appointed and did not have the authority to prosecute him.

None of the charges against Manafort relate to the work that he did during the 2016 presidential campaign. Mueller is investigating whether the Trump campaign worked with Moscow to influence the election. Trump denies any collusion and has repeatedly called the probe as a politically motivated witch hunt.

Pfeiffer testified that Manafort's assistant, Alex Trusko, had told him that he had transferred records from the Manafort residence into the storage unit. Pfeiffer described Trusko as a person who "ran various errands and drove Mr. Manafort."

Pfeiffer, who conducted the trap search, stated that the FBI had been warned of its existence by journalists

. He has asked lawyers to file other motions in the case next week, possibly including a request to transfer the trial to another location.

Ellis' decision on Tuesday marks the second time that a federal judge has confirmed Mueller's power. Earlier, Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the District Court of the District of Columbia also refused to dismiss the Manafort case in front of her.

These rulings mean that Manafort must be tried in two cases, before the start of Ellis' trial in July. the Washington case in September. The charges include conspiring to launder money, bank and tax fraud and not registering as a foreign agent for a pro-Russian Ukrainian party.

Manafort was jailed earlier this month after Mueller filed new charges against him. was under house arrest

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(Reportage of Mark Hosenball and Nathan Layne, edited by David Gregorio and Bill Trott)

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