Judge: Special counsel had authority to prosecute Manafort

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge in Washington says special counsel Robert Mueller was working within his authority when he brought charges against President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman.

The decision was a setback for Paul Manafort in his defense against charges of money-laundering conspiracy, false statements and acting as an unregistered foreign agent. Manafort had argued that Mueller had exceeded his authority because the case was unrelated to Russian election interference.

But U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson disagreed.

She sided with prosecutors who had produced an August 2017 memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The memo shows Rosenstein authorized Mueller to investigate Manafort's Ukrainian work and related financial crimes.

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