Trial for ex-Trump aide Manafort pushed back to July 24

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A trial date for U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, for alleged financial crimes been postponed to July 24 in the Eastern District of Virginia District Court, according to a court filing on Friday.

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The judge said the cause of the postponement from July 10 was “owing to a family member’s medical procedure.”

Manafort, along with his business associate Richard Gates, was indicted in the Virginia court for charges related to false income tax returns, failing to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts and bank fraud.

Manafort also faces charges in a Washington, D.C., court of conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money and failing to register as a foreign agent.

The charges stemmed from a probe being conducted by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election and, as part of that, whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.

Moscow and Trump both deny any wrongdoing.

The Virginia judge has not yet responded to a request from Manafort to dismiss the charges, although a different judge refused a separate effort to dismiss charges in the Washington court.

Manafort has pleaded not guilty and argued that the charges have nothing to do with Mueller’s probe.

Lawyers for Manafort did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.

(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Alistair Bell)

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