Manafort Manafucked

By Rafi Schwartz  |  August 21, 2018 | 8:57pm
Trumpland

Paul Manafort, the one-time campaign manager to President Donald Trump, has been found guilty on eight of 18 felony counts, including five counts of bank fraud and two tax fraud charges. Judge T.S. Ellis declared a mistrial on the other 10 charges after jurors told him that they could not reach a consensus.

Prior to reading the verdicts on the eight settled counts, Judge Ellis announced that he would speak with each juror individually before announcing their decision.

Manafort, arguably the most significant player to date in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, stood accused of a host of financial crimes, including failure to report—and in some cases specifically working to hide—income gained through his work as a political consultant.

Manafort’s trial, which featured blunt accusations of guilt by his longtime protege Rick Gates, was punctuated by a number of bizarre incidents, including requests by the jurors for an early weekend dismissal, and several instances of Judge Ellis reprimanding prosecutors from Mueller’s office.

This is a developing story and will be updated as new information is made available.

Update, 5:41 p.m.: President Trump has responded to news of the Manafort verdict.

 
Join the discussion...