Manafort Pleads Not Guilty, Gets September Trial Date

The Associated Press reports:

President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort maintained his innocence on Wednesday to new charges he acted as an unregistered foreign agent and directed an international money-laundering conspiracy.

Manafort appeared at the federal courthouse and entered a formal plea of not guilty to a second indictment brought against him by prosecutors working for special counsel Robert Mueller. It was his first court appearance since his co-defendant and longtime business associate, Rick Gates, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

During the hearing, Judge Amy Berman Jackson set a Sept. 17 trial date for Manafort and reprimanded him for making a public statement last week about Gates’ plea. The statement violated a gag order she put in place early in the case, she said.