Judge denies ex-Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort's move to drop charges in Virginia case

• A federal judge rejected Paul Manafort's bid to dismiss the charges in the special counsel's case against him in Virginia.
• Manafort, President Donald Trump's ex-campaign chairman, had argued that Mueller had exceeded his authority.
• The judge had previously grilled Mueller's team, questioning whether they brought the case against Manafort just to get him to testify against Trump as part of the broader Russia probe.

Paul Manafort

Tom Williams | CQ Roll Call | Getty Images

A federal judge in Virginia has rejected President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman's move to throw out charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller in the Russia investigation.

The decision Tuesday was a setback for Paul Manafort in his defense against numerous tax and bank fraud charges. Manafort had argued that Mueller had exceeded his authority because the case was unrelated to Russian election interference.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III issued the ruling. Ellis had previously grilled Mueller's team, questioning whether they brought the case to get Manafort to testify against Trump.

Prosecutors had argued that Mueller was within his authority, citing 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.