✕ Close Ex-Trump Campaign Chair Manafort's Court Arrival The trial of former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort begins on Tuesday with the lobbyist accused of tax evasion and bank fraud. Charges against Mr Trump’s former aide have been brought as a result of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. However, while that investigation focuses on potential meddling by Moscow in the US democratic system, Mr Manafort’s trial will focus more on his dealings in Ukraine, with brief mentions of the election race. It may however produce politically damaging headlines for the Mr Trump, as the dealings of a man who ran his presidential campaign for three months are picked over in public. Mr Manafort has denied the charges, but has been warned he could spend the rest of his life behind bars if found guilty. Prosecutors have lined up 35 witnesses and more than 500 pieces of evidence they believe will show the lobbyist earned more than $60m (£47m) from his Ukrainian dealings, while concealing a “significant percentage” from the IRS. He may yet face a further trial in Washington this September on charges relating to possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Follow our live updates of Paul Manafort's trial here: Please allow a moment for the live stream to load During the current trial, jurors are expected to see photographs of Mr Manafort’s Mercedes-Benz and of his Hampton property putting green and swimming pool. There is likely to be testimony, too, about tailored Beverly Hills clothing, high-end antiques, rugs and art and New York Yankees seasons tickets. The luxurious lifestyle was funded by Mr Manafort's political consulting for the pro-Russian Ukrainian political party of Viktor Yanukovych, who was deposed as Ukraine's president in 2014. Mr Manafort served as Donald Trump's campaign manager for three months (Getty) Lawyers have tangled over how much jurors will hear of his overseas political work, particularly about his ties to Russia and other wealthy political figures. Mr Trump and his lawyers have repeatedly sought to play down Mr Manafort's connection to the president, yet the trial won't be entirely without references to the campaign. Mr Mueller's team says Mr Manafort's position in the Trump campaign is relevant to some of the bank fraud charges. Prosecutors plan to present evidence that a chairman of one of the banks allowed Manafort to file inaccurate loan information in exchange for a job on the campaign and the promise of a job in the Trump administration that never materialised.<doc-sep>As Rick Gates testified to a packed courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia, on Monday, he carefully avoided making eye contact with his former business partner and mentor, Paul Manafort. But as Gates implicated himself and Manafort in multiple criminal acts, Manafort — who could spend the rest of his life in prison — fixed the cooperating witness with an icy glare. It was the most dramatic moment yet in the criminal trial of Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman. Gates’ testimony, which is central to special counsel Robert Mueller’s bank and tax fraud case against Manafort, made vivid the rupture of a relationship that once involved exotic foreign travel and huge profits — but now pits Gates against his longtime boss in what one of their mutual acquaintances called a betrayal. The two men, colleagues for a decade, hadn’t been seen in the same room since mid-February, shortly before Gates, whom Mueller also indicted, agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with the special counsel’s team. The reunion of sorts seemed to make Gates uncomfortable: The 46-year-old former lobbyist and consultant looked at just about everyone in the courtroom — the judge, the lawyers, the jury — other than the man he was incriminating. Gates even referred to his longtime friend with cold distance, referring to him as “Mr. Manafort,” when he said that he took his boss’ “direction” when he filed several years of false tax returns and failed to notify the U.S. government that Manafort had foreign bank accounts. POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or updates from POLITICO and you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service. You can unsubscribe at any time and you can contact us here. This sign-up form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The split between Manafort and his former protégé has stunned many Republican lobbyists and political consultants. “I don’t want to watch,” Michael Caputo, a Trump campaign veteran who has called both Manafort and Gates friends for decades, and who believes the charges to be unfair, said before Gates’ testimony. “It’s very unfortunate to see the two close friends at loggerheads over nothing.” “They were very close,” added a second GOP consultant who knows both men well, saying that Manafort has grounds to feel “betrayed.” The trial does not have direct implications for Trump and is not expected to shed light on whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. It is not known whether Gates, in addition to recounting Manafort’s alleged crimes, might also be telling Mueller’s team about misdeeds by other Trump associates or the president. Former Trump aides say that Gates was an influential figure in the Trump campaign and transition, and also visited the Trump White House in early 2017. Gates entered the courtroom shortly after 4:15 p.m., clean-shaven and wearing a dark suit. After taking an oath with his hand on a Bible, he described meeting Manafort in 1995 at an office Christmas party at Manafort’s home while interning at the Republican operative’s lobbying firm. Gates explained how he left the firm in 1997 but teamed up with Manafort again in 2006. They worked together for a decade, helping to elect the president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych. After Trump named Manafort his campaign chairman in the spring of 2016, Gates signed up as well, though he kept that reference vague, saying only that he had done “work for one of the presidential campaigns most recently.” Despite their deep ties, and what others call a genuine friendship, Gates sought on Monday to portray his relationship with “Mr. Manafort” as strictly professional, testifying that he was merely an employee and thought that Manafort saw him the same way. Gates said he typically spoke several times a day with Manafort about everything from their political consulting work to his boss’ financial affairs. But, prodded by prosecutors, he added: “Outside of business we didn’t socialize." The charges against Manafort largely relate to lucrative work the men did in Ukraine several years ago, prior to when they joined Trump’s campaign. That work has drawn particular scrutiny because of Yanukovych’s ties to the Kremlin and because the men relied in Ukraine on the services of a translator and fixer named Konstantin Kilimnik, whom Manafort’s office has said has ties to Russian intelligence. Questioned by Mueller prosecutor Greg Andres, Gates painted Manafort’s work in Ukraine in a positive light, explaining he’d help to build the country’s Party of Regions, which dominated Ukrainian politics for nearly a decade. “It was kind of building a party 101,” Gates said. Gates said Manafort’s consulting work for Yanukovych — which included political strategy and even tips on the Ukrainian’s personal appearance — was a major strategic triumph. “Mr. Manafort brought him back from the proverbial political dead,” Gates said. “He was probably one of the most politically brilliant strategists I’ve ever worked with.” Gates has been at the center of the trial since it started last week. His name was mentioned hundreds of times before he finally took the stand on Monday, including by Manafort’s lawyers, who have built their long-shot defense of Manafort around destroying Gates’ credibility. “You're going to see evidence of how Mr. Gates' story has evolved over time and how the government was eager to believe his evolving stories about Paul Manafort,” Thomas Zehnle, one of Manafort’s attorneys, said in his opening statement last week. “You’re going to learn that Mr. Gates will tell untruths about Mr. Manafort and about anyone and anything in order to save himself from prison time, from huge criminal fines, to save himself from having to pay his back taxes, and all the penalties that are associated with those taxes that he owes because of his own personal misdeeds,” the Manafort attorney added. Zehlne also accused Gates of embezzling “millions of dollars” from Manafort, without providing evidence, something Gates himself admitted Monday. “In essence, I added money to expense reports and inflated expenses to receive the additional money,” Gates said. Asked to quantify the overcharges in dollars, Gates said: “I’d say it’s several hundred thousand.” Veteran lawyers say Mueller’s team must establish Gates as a credible witness before Manafort’s lawyers cross-examine him, knowing full well the defense has telegraphed its plans to highlight the fact Gates was originally indicted for many of the same crimes as Manafort and has since admitted to lying to the FBI. “He’s been on both sides of this,” said John Dean, the former White House counsel to Richard Nixon who himself flipped and testified against his former colleagues in the Watergate scandal. “The jury will understand that. His only route is just tell the truth.” Andres signaled the Mueller prosecutors have about three more hours of questioning for Gates on Tuesday morning. “Then they hold their breath that Manafort doesn’t know something about Gates that Gates didn’t tell them,” said a lawyer who represents a client in the Russia investigation.<doc-sep>
The former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort stared down his former protegé Rick Gates as he testified in Manafort's Virginia fraud trial on Monday. But Gates didn't meet his former mentor's gaze or look at him once while testifying that he committed tax evasion and bank fraud with Manafort and embezzled money from him. Gates is a cooperating witness in the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and is the prosecution's star witness in Manafort's trial. ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — The trial of the former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort reached its most intense point so far on Monday. Rick Gates, Manafort's protégé and closest associate of many years, turned against his mentor and delivered damning testimony under his former boss' icy gaze without looking in his direction even once. Manafort, meanwhile, stared down Gates with a piercing, stone-cold glare while his former associate and mentee testified to committing tax evasion and bank fraud "at Mr. Manafort's direction." Gates also admitted to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Manafort by filing fake expense reports, which were then paid from foreign bank accounts illegally concealed from US authorities. During his blockbuster testimony, Gates didn't meet Manafort's gaze or even look at him once, referring to him only as "Mr. Manafort" and carefully making eye contact with everyone in the room except him. "I have seen some cold stares in my life, but watching Paul Manafort stare down his former deputy, arms crossed, as Rick Gates recounted the long list of his alleged crimes was remarkable," the CNN correspondent Jim Sciutto wrote on Twitter. Gates was an aide on the Trump campaign. Evan Vucci/AP Gates first met Manafort in 1995 and was his close business partner and right-hand-man for nearly a decade while they worked as political consultants to Viktor Yanukovych, who became Ukraine's president, and his Party of Regions before both joining the Trump campaign in 2016. The two men apparently hadn't been in the same room since February, when the two were charged with a combined 32 federal counts of tax evasion and bank fraud by the special counsel Robert Mueller's office. Manafort is pleading not guilty to all charges, while Gates took a plea deal and became a cooperating witness in Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign's possible role in it. Gates is continuing his testimony against Manafort on Tuesday.