The former Trump campaign chairman is accused of financial crimes. The financial crimes trial of Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, got underway in Alexandria, Virginia, Tuesday, the first trial in connection with the more than year-long investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into possible collusion between Russia and then-candidate Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. But collusion and Russia are not expected to come up during Manafort’s trial; rather, the white-collar crime case arose from the broader mandate given Mueller to probe matters arising directly out of the investigation into any campaign links to the Kremlin. As part of that investigation, Mueller began exploring Manafort’s longtime work for Ukrainian politicians with ties to Moscow, which he began in 2006. Government investigators unearthed a raft of alleged financial crimes unrelated to the campaign and obtained multiple, related indictments against the veteran GOP lobbyist, including counts of tax evasion and bank fraud. Manafort, who’s 69 and could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted, has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Federal prosecutors allege Manafort, who smiled as he entered the courtroom Tuesday morning, funneled some $75 million through offshore accounts, using a complex scheme to hide income, buy posh real estate, make home improvements to his many houses from the affluent Hamptons to tony West Palm Beach, and generally to live a life of luxury. The exhibits list for the prosecution at times reads like a script from the set of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” with photographs to be presented of pricey vehicles, opulent home furnishings and haute couture, including a watch from House of Bijan, which CNBC earlier this year labeled “the most expensive store in the world.” In short, the prosecution is expected to attempt to paint Manafort as leading a criminal high-life to the jury of 12 men and women, along with four alternates, chosen from the Virginia suburb just outside the nation’s capital. Former federal prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg, in an interview with ABC, called Manafort “particularly” unsympathetic “and completely unrelatable. He made a massive fortune working for a Russian stooge in the Ukraine. Hard to relate to that.” But veteran white-collar defense attorney Shan Wu, said, “You make your client a sympathetic figure by showing him as a person – what they have done, what they have accomplished. “In a high-profile case like this, I would emphasize the amount of resources the prosecution has expended against my client – that they have some other agenda in mind, because otherwise his crimes are not worth the amount of money, time and staff devoted to it. This makes the client a human being versus the government,” Wu said. Making that last point might be hard for Manafort’s defense attorneys, Kevin Downing, Thomas Zehnle, and Richard Westling, who told federal judge T. S. Ellis last week that they do not intend to argue that their client was “selectively or vindictively prosecuted,” although the defense lawyers said they might raise the issue at a later date. Manafort's overall defense strategy is unknown, largely due to a gag order on lawyers imposed by the judge in a separate case against Manafort in Washington, D.C. Manafort has maintained he had no contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin or other Russians. One image the jury will not see is the defendant in his jail-issued dark green jumpsuit arriving from nearby Alexandria Detention Center, where he has been since June. He was sent there after the judge in his separate Washington, D.C., case ordered him held for alleged attempted witness-tampering. Instead, Manafort will appear in normal business attire. Excluded at trial will be any mention of collusion and Russia, as decreed by the judge, but Manafort’s defense team was unsuccessful in efforts to exclude more than 50 government exhibits related to Manafort’s work in Ukraine. They had argued “strategy memos and PR don’t go to the financial crimes” their client allegedly committed. Lead prosecutor Greg Andres took great exception, arguing that exhibits like photos of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on a Manafort-produced photo-shoot for his client were at the “core” of the government’s case. “These exhibits...go directly to how Mr. Manafort made his money,” Andres said, adding, “The point is to show how he made not hundreds of thousands but millions and millions.” Judge Ellis urged prosecutors to “be cautious,” noting that “most people don’t distinguish between Ukrainians and Russians,” but said he would allow the government to proceed. Zeidenberg, a former deputy special counsel in the perjury and obstruction of justice prosecution of Lewis “Scooter” Libby -- former top adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney -- said the prime task of the prosecution will be to keep it simple. He cited a daunting paper trail from countless emails and documents from cooperating witnesses to boxes and file cabinets of bank records and other items seized in a May 2017 raid on Manafort’s storage unit and another raid - on his Alexandria condo - two months later. “The government always wants to simplify these types of cases as much as possible and illustrate the vast wealth that Manafort accumulated but never accounted for,” Zeidenberg said. “This should not be a difficult case to prove, particularly given the use of a cooperating witness like Gates,” a reference to former longtime Manafort business partner Rick Gates, who pleaded guilty to reduced charges earlier this year and has been cooperating with the Mueller investigation for five months. Zeidenberg said jurors in the eastern district of Virginia “are generally pretty sophisticated,” adding, “This isn’t that tough. failure to report his foreign bank accounts and the bank fraud should not be difficult concepts for the jurors.” Still, Wu said much depends on the skill of the prosecutors. “So the way you defend a white-collar case with a lot of records arrayed against your client is to take on the narrative of those documents and make the story either sympathetic to your client or punch it full of holes,” said Wu, who at one point briefly represented Gates. “Making complex evidence interesting and easy to understand is very much dependent on the courtroom skills of the lawyer. You have to know exactly how your evidence tells a story so you are presenting the story – not the evidence,” Wu said. Perhaps the biggest day in court - and potentially the most damaging for Manafort - is when Gates, who also worked alongside his longtime colleague on the Trump campaign, takes the stand against him. The government’s exhibit list, alone, is littered with communications involving Gates. The two were originally indicted in Washington, D.C., in October on conspiracy, false statements, and a slew of financial crimes related to their lobbying and political work on behalf of pro-Russia Ukrainian politicians. Besides Gates, the list of 35 potential witnesses the government revealed Friday includes the former chief strategist to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, who worked with Manafort eight years ago to help get Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovych elected. Former bankers, tax accountants, bookkeepers, a real estate agent, even the CFO at the Alexandria Mercedes dealership where Manafort did business will possibly take the stand for the government. Though none of the witnesses is a household name, a number are from high profile institutions, such as the director of ticket operations for the New York Yankees and AirBnB’s director of customer experience for North America -- all companies with which the government says Manafort did business. Five individuals from financial institutions and bookkeeping firms have been granted limited “use” immunity to testify against their former client without fear of prosecution. They are free from legal jeopardy in this instance only – a one-time “use.” It is unclear if Manafort will take the stand. Wu noted that the defense strategy of humanizing a client is “much harder to do if they do not testify, which most criminal defendants do not do as it exposes them to the dangers of cross-examination.” One person who is not expected to show is Robert Mueller, according to the special counsel’s office. A component of the expected three-week trial that’s sure to be unpredictable and anything but simple is the judge himself. T.S.<doc-sep>(CNN) — Paul Manafort’s criminal trial kicked off with a furious start Tuesday as the federal courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia, found a jury, heard opening statements and saw the first witness testify. President Donald Trump was also following the developments of Manafort, his former campaign chairman, from Air Force One, and had his legal team giving him updates. This is the first criminal trial brought by the team of special counsel Robert Mueller. Here are five takeaways: Flipping Is Off the Menu? This trial is really happening. After months of speculation of whether Manafort would “flip” on his campaign associates and Trump, Manafort never reached a deal with prosecutors. Mueller’s team plans to rely on a boatload of documents, emails and witnesses to paint Manafort as a serial liar who deceived the federal government, his own accountants and banks and orchestrated his business associates into setting up a criminal financial enterprise. Prosecutor Uzo Asonye started the first words of the trial with this line: “A man in this courtroom believed the law did not apply to him.” There were rumblings of a deal Monday night, after defense lawyers and the Justice Department jointly agreed to drop Manafort’s appeal of the loss in his civil lawsuit challenging Mueller’s authority. Yet no plea materialized in court Tuesday. RELATED: Paul Manafort trial tracker He could always change his mind, plead guilty and agree to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation into Russian collusion at any time before a jury returns a verdict. But why wouldn’t Manafort roll the dice on the jury and hope for the President’s sympathies now? Trump has offered pardons to several others, especially to those convicted of public corruption crimes, and tweeted his support of Manafort. “Wow, what a tough sentence for Paul Manafort, who has represented Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and many other top political people and campaigns,” tweeted the President, who would be the sole person with power to pardon Manafort if he’s convicted in this case. “Very unfair!” All About Gates Manafort’s relationship with his right-hand man, Rick Gates, appears to be over. Defense attorney Thomas Zehnle focused more than half of his opening statement on Gates, calling him the prosecution’s “star witness” and, conversely, calling him an embezzler. He described how his team would show how Gates “did it” – that is, handled much of Manafort’s business dealings that the government says were criminal, while also swindling Manafort. Gates pleaded guilty to two criminal charges in DC federal court related to his dealings with Manafort in February – effectively flipping on Manafort – and prosecutors dropped the part of the case against him in Virginia. One of those crimes was lying to investigators, Zehnle pointed out in an early attack on his trustworthiness. If Manafort successfully cuts into his longtime deputy’s credibility, that could spell problems for the entire Mueller investigation. Gates has agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department for as long as it sees fit, and prosecutors told him long ago they sought his help in their core mission of investigating Russian interference in the presidential election, according to CNN reporting. (The allegations at issue in Manafort’s case barely touch his and Gates’ work on the Trump campaign.) A Whiff of Russia Democratic political consultant Tad Devine’s appearance as the first witness may signal that the jurors will be schooled on Ukrainian politics. Devine worked with Manafort and his team of associates on political campaigns in the region for years. And for almost an hour, prosecutor Greg Andres walked Devine through his knowledge of several Manafort contacts and business strategies in the Eastern European country, including his contact with oligarch and Party of Regions backer Rinat Akhmetov. The former Ukrainian president for whom Manafort did the most work, Viktor Yanukovych, fled to Russia after losing power in 2014 and is now considered to be closely aligned with President Vladimir Putin. Devine also discussed how Manafort and Gates in 2014 sought unsuccessfully to pivot toward helping a budding opposition party and working for the current Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko. 07:30 - Source: CNN WH attempts to downplay Manafort's role in the Trump campaign Manafort’s jury of peers Six men and six women will decide Manafort’s guilt. The 69-year-old faces a maximum sentence of more than 300 years in prison if these Northern Virginians side against him. When the courtroom filled with jurors Tuesday morning, they looked much like Manafort – largely middle-aged, white. Two potential jurors said they were “recovering attorneys,” while four said they were former or current federal government employees. However, none of those individuals made the jury. Not much is known about the 12 individuals and four alternates. These people in the courtroom will be known only by their juror numbers and their observable appearances during the trial: Juror 145, Juror 299, Juror 276, etc. Almost three-quarters of the jury is white. At least four jurors are younger than Manafort. What’s left are a few people who closed their eyes during the hours of proceedings Tuesday. Several who put on glasses for the start of opening statements. And one man who looked unhappy to be chosen then took close notes. Lightning Speed Bill Hennessy Before heading into Tuesday, court-watchers expected a slow start to the trial, with the jury selection process to last up to two days and for opening statements to start on the third day. Judge T.S. Ellis had other ideas. The pace so far has repositioned the trial from one that could bore jurors and get bogged down in financial technicalities to one that’s whipping by. Ellis set a tight schedule for opening arguments Tuesday: 30 minutes or less. Asonye and defense lawyer Thomas Zehnle kept each of their summations of the case to about that time. And then following a short break, prosecutor Greg Andres began to question Devine. Andres pelted questions at a quick clip and showed more than a dozen documents to the jury as evidence of Devine and Manafort’s Ukrainian work. At about a half hour into Andres’ questioning of Devine, Ellis cut in. How much more with this witness, he asked. “Move it along,” Ellis said. Day two begins Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.<doc-sep>The six men and six women who will decide whether President Trump’s former campaign chairman is guilty of several felonies were chosen from roughly 60 potential jurors from Northern Virginia who showed up to court Tuesday. The group among a larger pool of potential jurors who had answered written questions regarding their knowledge of the case and their ability to set that knowledge aside. Judge T.S. Ellis III already had rejected more than three dozen people because they had competing obligations or indicated they could not be impartial.<doc-sep>
Paul Manafort arrives for a hearing at US District Court on June 15, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images) Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort leaves Federal Court on December 11, 2017 in Washington, DC. In October, Trump's one-time campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates were arrested on money laundering and tax-related charges. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Paul Manafort, advisor to Donald Trump, is seen on the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, July 19, 2016. CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 17: Paul Manafort, campaign manager for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, is interviewed on the floor of the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena July 17, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Republican National Convention begins tomorrow. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort leaves Federal Court on December 11, 2017 in Washington, DC. In October, Trump's one-time campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates were arrested on money laundering and tax-related charges. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images (CNN) — The biggest test of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election begins Tuesday with the trial of Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. RELATED: Paul Manafort trial tracker The trial on Manafort’s financial dealings will hang over the White House and show just how deeply federal authorities have looked into the private business of Trump associates. It comes as the President continues to rail against Mueller’s investigation, calling it a “witch hunt,” and some congressional Republicans are looking to impeach the Justice Department official overseeing the Muller probe, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Trump weighed in on the Mueller probe Tuesday morning, reiterating a defense made by his attorney Rudy Giuliani that “collusion is not a crime,” even though actions such as conspiracy can be criminal. One year ago to the month, federal agents barged into Manafort’s Alexandria, Virginia, apartment under a search warrant. They took dozens of hanging file folders, bank statements, discs, memory cards and computer hard drives, and a watch worth several thousand dollars from the design house Bijan – much of that evidence will be on display for the jury. The trial in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, is expected to last three weeks. Jury selection will begin Tuesday, with opening arguments likely later this week. Manafort is also scheduled to face trial in Washington, DC, on related charges in September. The case against Manafort doesn’t focus on his time as chairman of the Trump campaign in 2016. Manafort is charged with 18 violations of tax and banking laws. Prosecutors claim he hid millions of dollars in income from lobbying for Ukrainian politicians, all while failing to pay taxes and spending the money on US real estate and personal luxury purchases. When his Ukrainian political work dried up in 2015, prosecutors say Manafort lied to banks to take out more than $20 million in loans. They accuse him of hiding his foreign bank accounts from federal authorities. Manafort also allegedly received loans from the Federal Savings Bank after one of its executives sought a position in the Trump campaign and administration, prosecutors say. If found guilty, Manafort could face a maximum sentence of 305 years in prison. Prosecutors have said publicly that possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign won’t come up at trial. “I don’t anticipate that a government witness will utter the word ‘Russia,’” one prosecutor said earlier this month. That hasn’t kept the collusion question from seeping into the proceedings so far. When the judge who will oversee the trial, Judge T.S. Ellis, first had a chance to meet with prosecutors and the defense in the case, he railed at the possibility that Mueller had skewered Manafort as a way to get to Trump. “The vernacular is to sing,” Ellis commented in May on one of Mueller’s possible that perhaps investigators wanted Manafort to change his plea to guilty and agree to cooperate. Prosecutors plan to call about 30 witnesses to testify against Manafort and show the jury hundreds of financial records, emails and photos. Five witnesses who wanted to avoid testifying have been given limited immunity in the case. Manafort himself is unlikely to testify, lawyers who’ve watched the case say. His attorneys are under a court order not to speak publicly about Manafort’s legal issues and declined to comment for this story.