- Paul Manafort filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Washington
- He alleges in the suit that Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia exceeded his legal authority
- Manafort claims the special counsel investigated him for conduct that was not related to Russian interference
- He was indicted in October and has pleaded not guilty
- Lawsuit has asked the court to have the case against Manafort dismissed
President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman is suing special counsel Robert Mueller and the Justice Department.
Paul Manafort alleges in the lawsuit that Mueller’s wide-ranging investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia exceeded his legal authority and needed to be reined in.
Manafort claims the special counsel investigated him for conduct that was not related to Russian interference.
President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort (above) is suing special counsel Robert Mueller and the Justice Department
He was indicted in October and has pleaded not guilty.
The suit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington and names both Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Rosenstein appointed Mueller in May and is tasked with overseeing the special counsel’s operations.
It accused Rosenstein of exceeding his legal authority to ‘grant Mr Mueller carte blanche to investigate and pursue criminal charges in connection with anything he stumbles across.’
Manafort alleges in the lawsuit that Robert Mueller’s (above) wide-ranging investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia exceeded his legal authority
The lawsuit asked the court to have the case against Manafort dismissed.
Manafort’s lawyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment, and a spokesman for Mueller’s office declined to comment.
He was the first of Trump’s allies to be formally indicted by the FBI in charges related to the alleged collusion between the president’s 2016 campaign and the Kremlin.
Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates both face a number of charges.
The lawsuit challenges the Mueller’s decision to charge Manafort, which the ex-Trump campaign chairman says has nothing to do with 2016 election.
He says the charges instead relate to work he did with Ukraine.