Donald Trump refuses to say if he'll pardon Paul Manafort
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The jury in the financial fraud trial of Donald Trump‘s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, has found him guilty on eight counts of bank and tax fraud, but was unable to reach a consensus on 10 other charges.
The convictions mark the first trial victory stemming from the Russia investigation being led by special counsel Robert Mueller, and which is working to determine to what extent — if any — members of the Trump 2016 campaign colluded or worked together with Russian officials to impact the outcome of that election. At least four individuals who worked on the 2016 campaign have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from Mr Mueller's investigation.
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While observers have suggested that the guilty verdict against Mr Manafort could impact others in Trump's orbit, the charges he faced were not directly related to his work for the Trump campaign — though some of the alleged actions brought up by prosecutors did occur while Mr Manafort worked for the campaign.
The jury is expected to reconvene at 9.30am ET - or 2.30pm BST.
Following Friday's deliberations, Judge TS Ellis told the jurors to put the case out their mind over the weekend and not do any research into the trial.
On Monday, Judge Ellis met with both government prosecutors and defense lawyers and said the contents of the conversations would be released following the conclusion of the trial.
The jury sent Judge Ellis four questions on day one of deliberations. One of these requested Judge Ellis to define what is meant by "reasonable doubt" - as in the jury need to believe the charges are proved "beyond reasonable doubt" in order to convict
On the second day, the jurors asked for an early dismissal
On Friday, Judge Ellis disclosed he had received death threats related to the trial and was being protected by US marshals. The jury was not present when the remarks were made
Mr Manafort’s defence attorney, Kevin Downing, said his team “feels good” regarding the case
Away from this trial, Robert Mueller has lined up another of his targets as part of the ongoing Russia investigation.
On Friday, prosecutors working for Mueller said in a court filing that George Papadopoulos – a former Trump adviser – should spend six months in prison for lying to the FBI during the Russia investigation.
The filing also revealed several new details about the early days of the investigation.
The prosecutors disclosed that Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump during the 2016 election, caused irreparable damage to the investigation because he lied repeatedly in an interview in January 2017.
Those lies, they said, resulted in the FBI missing an opportunity to properly question a professor Papadopoulos was in contact with who told him Russians possessed “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, in the form of emails.
↵Michael Cohen is another figure who appears to be caught in the cross-hairs.
The New York Times is reporting that federal authorities investigating whether Cohen, President Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, committed bank and tax fraud have zeroed in on well over $20 million in loans obtained by taxi businesses that he and his family own.
Aaron Wolfson, a former prosecutor in New York, noted that it was not uncommon for juries to be out “five, six or seven days” in complicated cases.
“I think the jurors all know how serious this case is and they want to take the time and go through the evidence and the charges,” said Wolfson. “Staying until 6:15 shows they’re working hard, and there was something they wanted to finish.”
The jury will convene again at 9:30am EST in the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia.
Six men and six women are set to decide the fate of Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, in what is the first trial to stem from the FBI investigation into alleged collusion between Mr Trump's 2016 campaign team and Russian officials.
However, special prosecutor Robert Mueller's team did not charge Mr Manafort with any counts related to his work on the campaign.
The former foreign political agent, who received millions of dollars doing work for pro-Russian politicians like erstwhile Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, faces:
Five counts of false tax returns
Four counts of failure to report foreign bank accounts
Three counts of bank fraud related to loans from Citizens Bank
Two counts of bank fraud related to a loan from the Banc of California
Four counts of bank fraud related to his loans from Federal Savings Bank
Manafort lawyer Kevin Downing has said he believes the ongoing deliberations are a good sign for his client, but there has been very little information available into what the jury has potentially discussed, at least since they asked four questions about the charges last Thursday.
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