Mueller team shortens estimate for length of 2nd Manafort trial

Last year, special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors projected a three-week duration for the government's presentation in the Washington case | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is shaving its estimate for the length of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's upcoming trial, projecting that the prosecution case could be completed in as little as two weeks.

"The government anticipates that its case-in-chief will last approximately ten to twelve trial days," prosecutors wrote in a filing Friday evening in U.S. District Court in Washington.

Manafort is set to go on trial there beginning September 17 on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent, money laundering and obstruction of justice.

That trial is set to open just weeks after a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, convicted Manafort on eight felony charges, including filing false tax returns, failing to file reports on foreign bank accounts and bank fraud, in a trial that lasted three weeks. That jury deadlocked on ten other felony charges, but a verdict form released Thursday shows the jury was split 11-1 in favor of conviction on those counts.

Last year, Mueller's prosecutors projected a three-week duration for the government's presentation in the Washington case. "The government anticipates that it will need three weeks, or 15 trial days, to present its case in this matter," prosecutors wrote in November.

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Since that time, charges related to the foreign bank accounts were effectively moved to the Virginia case, although a related conspiracy claim remains in the D.C. case. Prosecutors have also added the two obstruction of justice counts, stemming from allegations that Manafort tampered with witnesses by trying to shape their testimony.

Manafort has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Manafort's team declined to call any witnesses in the Alexandria trial. The new, joint court filing Friday said Manafort's defense may take a similar tack in the D.C. case, but plans a case lasting three or four days if a defense is mounted. If Manafort's lawyers do put on a defense, they plan to call experts in the Foreign Agent Registration Act and money laundering, the filing says.

Prosecutors have the option of retrying Manafort on the ten charges where the jury deadlocked in the Virginia case. A judge has ordered Mueller's team to indicate by next Wednesday whether a retrial is planned.

Josh Gerstein is a senior White House reporter for POLITICO.