Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort found guilty on 8 bank and tax fraud charges
By Denis Slattery
Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, faced 18 charges of tax and bank fraud. (Jose Luis Magana / AP)
Paul Manafort is going to prison.
A Virginia jury found President Trump's luxury-loving former campaign chairman guilty Tuesday of eight counts of tax and bank fraud.
While the jury of six men and six women deadlocked on another 10 charges, the conviction is a major victory for special counsel Robert Mueller and a blow to the President's claims that the investigation is nothing more than a "witch hunt."
Manafort was convicted of hiding million of dollars in offshore accounts and lying to obtain loans after the income he earned working for pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians dried up.
Prosecutors, after entering more than 300 pieces of evidence and presenting 27 witnesses over nearly three weeks, said during closing arguments that the case simply boiled down to "Mr. Manafort and his lies."
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The 69-year-old GOP strategist lied to the IRS and banks to maintain his luxurious lifestyle, they argued. He also lied to procure millions in bank loans when his international income began to drop off.
While jurors agreed, the President did not.
"I feel very badly for Paul Manafort," Trump said as he arrived in West Virginia for a rally. "Paul Manafort's a good man. He was with Ronald Reagan. He was with a lot of different people over the years. And I feel very sad about that."
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Trump went on to denounce Mueller and distance himself from the conviction.
"It doesn't involve me ... it's a very sad thing," Trump said, adding that the Manafort case "has nothing to do with" Russian interference in the 2016 election.
"This is a witch hunt, and it's a disgrace. This has nothing to do — it started out looking for Russians in our campaign, and there were none," he added.
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Manafort was convicted on five counts of filing false tax returns, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failing to report a foreign bank account. He faces more than 60 years in prison.
Judge T.S. Ellis declared a mistrial on the other charges.
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Manafort's defense team presented no witnesses and told jurors to question the prosecution's case as well as the credibility of their client's erstwhile protege Rick Gates, who served as a star government witness.
Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is investigating Russian election meddling and the possibility of ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. (Charles Dharapak / AP)
Gates, who worked for the Trump campaign, transition team and then a super PAC designed to promote the President's agenda, was indicted alongside Manafort late last year.
He accepted a plea deal in February.
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Prosecutors used a dramatic array of evidence to portray Manafort as a man obsessed with money. They told jurors of his lavish lifestyle, which included a $15,000 ostrich skin jacket, luxury cars, home renovations and landscaping at his Hamptons home and other properties.
Manafort used more than 30 foreign bank accounts in Cyprus, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, and the United Kingdom to evade U.S. taxes on more than $15 million.
The Alexandria, Va., trial is the first stemming from Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. During the course of the investigation, prosecutors discovered the years-long scheme Manafort ran in order to avoid paying taxes.
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Manafort, who is set to face a second trial in Washington next month for related money laundering charges, can appeal his conviction — and could also be retried on the 10 charges that resulted in a mistrial.
Manafort's attorney Kevin Downing said his client is "disappointed he is not getting acquittals all the way through."
"He is evaluating all of his options at this point," Downing added.
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While Manafort's work for the President didn't feature prominently in his first trial, his connections to the Trump orbit even after he left the campaign became apparent. Manafort reached out to Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner during the transition looking for help getting a job in the administration for a banker who'd loaned him millions.
"On it!" Kushner responded.
The Manafort verdict came down Tuesday minutes after the President's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to campaign finance violations, including payoffs to women alleging affairs with Trump, bank fraud and tax fraud.
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Aside from Manafort's conviction, Mueller's investigation has brought charges against four people affiliated with Trump's campaign or administration; 13 Russian nationals; 12 Russian intelligence officers; three Kremlin-linked companies, and two others.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington executive director Noah Bookbinder, a former federal prosecutor, said Manafort's conviction could be seen as a sign that Mueller's probe is anything but a "witch hunt."
"This is just the latest conviction for Special Counsel Mueller's investigation, as multiple defendants have already pleaded guilty, and it likely will not be the last. This investigation is moving quickly and effectively, and it will continue bringing us closer to the truth.""
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While Manafort ran the President's campaign for only a few months, the pair have known one another for decades. Manafort long owned a condo in Trump Tower on Fifth Ave. and worked with Trump buddy and political consultant Roger Stone during the 1980s.
The President has attempted to discredit Mueller's work by repeatedly casting the probe as a "witch hunt." Earlier this month, he decried the fact that Manafort was jailed while awaiting the outcome of his trial, comparing him to murderous mob boss Al Capone.
"Looking back on history, who was treated worse, Alfonse Capone, legendary mob boss, killer and 'Public Enemy Number One,' or Paul Manafort, political operative & Reagan/Dole darling, now serving solitary confinement — although convicted of nothing? Where is the Russian Collusion?"" he tweeted.