Basically, the judge exposed that the Manafort case was ongoing for years and had nothing to do with the Russia case. And he exposed them as going beyond whatever their charge was and chastised them saying Mueller shouldn’t have unfettered power.
Via BPR:
Special Counsel Robert Mueller had a really bad day Friday when a federal judge in Virginia sharply challenged his case against Paul Manafort, suggesting that Mueller overstepped his authority in a quest to topple President Donald Trump from office.
Judge T. S. Ellis III said prosecutors had pursued fraud charges against Manafort in hopes of gaining evidence to incriminate the president, according to The New York Times.
“You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud,” said Ellis, who reportedly lost his temper at times. “You really care about getting information that Mr. Manafort can give you that would reflect on Trump and lead to his prosecution or impeachment or whatever.”
Ellis said the charges against Manafort “manifestly don’t have anything to do with the campaign or with Russian collusion,” and that Mueller may be overstepping his authority to “tighten the screws” on Manafort so he’ll give up the goods on Trump, The Times reported.