"Defendant Paul J. Manafort, Jr. by and through counsel, moves this Court for a change of venue and for other relief relating to jury selection," the court document said on Friday. "Mr. Manafort makes his motion based upon his Sixth Amendment right to trial by an impartial jury and pursuant to Rule 21 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure."
The memorandum highlights that voters in the Alexandria Division voted 2-to-1 in favor of the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. In addition, the document says that the large media market in the Washington, DC metropolitan areas have provided unfavorable prejudicial publicity of Manafort.
Manafort is also requesting the court adopt the use of a jury questionnaire as approved previously by the Supreme Court in a previous trial and substantial increase in the number of jurors in the venue that will be summoned to Court for the trial, the memorandum said.
Manafort has been charged with money-laundering conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign agent for work tied to the Ukrainian government.
Russian officials have repeatedly denied allegations of interference, calling the accusations absurd. Trump has also denied any collusion between himself and the Kremlin and has called Mueller's investigation a witch hunt.
