MSNBC's Rachel Maddow explains why Paul Manafort's Virginia trial delay could be the most important development today

While President Donald Trump sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin on hacking in the United States, another issue was developing back in the United States with his former campaign chair Paul Manafort.

During her Monday show, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow explained that Manafort's trial delay could be one of the second most important developments today without even being a focus of the mainstream news.

"The first jurisdiction in which he was charged was Washington, D.C," Maddow explained of the two cases facing Manafort. "The judge set a trial date for Manafort in D.C. in September. The second he was charged was in the eastern district of Virginia. And even though those charges came second, the eastern district of Virginia is known as the rocket docket. They like to go fast. Don't ask a judge in the eastern district for a delay in your trial. Don't take long recess. Don't ask the judge to make it take too long. They like to go fast. Sometimes faster than the prosecutors or the defense is comfortable with."

In Manafort's Virginia trial, the trial date is set for July and turned down any request for a delay. He said that he wants the trial over in a week.

However, "the judge just handed out a big delay," Maddow continued. "He just postponed a hearing that was due to happen in Manafort's case tomorrow morning." The hearing was interesting, it was a procedural component, but no one knows why it was delayed in the notoriously speedy court.

"It is worth noting that things have been going very badly for Manafort and his defense team," Maddow recalled. "His lawyers have lost literally on every single motion they've made to the judge up to and including Paul Manafort being moved several days ago to a new jail he did not want to be moved to. A move that occasioned the public release of this mug shot. If this is being delayed, it is the process of the new development, it could be that he is potentially considering a guilty plea."

Manafort is the only person in the case thus far that has not agreed to plead guilty or agreed to work with special counselor Robert Mueller or investigators.

The story continues to develop. You can see Maddow's take below: