President Trump’s former campaign chair doesn’t have a case in his lawsuit against FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller, according to one legal expert.
“For lawyers this is frivolous and really silly,” Jed Shugerman, Fordham University Law Professor, told Cheddar. “I think what Manafort is trying to do is play to the base. And he also may be trying to send a message to Trump: ‘Look I’m trying to get rid of Mueller for you, how about a pardon?’”
Manafort was charged by Mueller back in October with failing to file offshore bank accounts and register as a foreign agent. His lawsuit, which also names Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as a defendant, argues that the charges are not connected to the investigation into Russia’s tampering with the 2016 presidential election.
But Shugerman says the suit may end up proving just the opposite.
“All this lawsuit would do is affirm that Rod Rosenstein has given [Mueller] this broad authority,” he said. “And even more damaging to Manafort would be that Rosenstein would take this as a chance to explain why the finances and the financial ties with Russia and Ukraine relate more directly to the Trump campaign.”
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/manafort-sues-mueller-but-does-he-have-a-case).
For President Donald Trump, tariffs — or the threat of them — can bend nations to his will.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
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The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
