Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s trial is underway in a high-profile test of Robert Mueller’s investigation. See latest updates.
Opening statements in the criminal trial of Paul Manafort just wrapped up.
Attorneys on both sides delivered statements that lasted about 30 minutes.
The first witness will be called this afternoon.
From CNN’s Katelyn Polantz
In opening statements for the defense, Paul Manafort’s defense attorney Thomas Zehnle laid out the bare bones of his side of the case, shifting much of the blame to the Ukrainian oligarchs that Manafort worked for and the business associates he worked with.
«This is the way that they required it to be done,» Zehnle said, explaining why oligarchs paid Manafort through secret foreign accounts. Prosecutors said Tuesday that Manafort hid 30 foreign bank accounts from US authorities.
Of Manafort’s associates, like longtime deputy Rick Gates, Zehnle said this:
Gates pleaded guilty earlier this year to participating in Manafort’s alleged financial conspiracy and is slated to testify against Manafort. Both men were top officials in President Trump’s campaign, but that is not part of the criminal case.
Zehnle specifically attacked Gates and called him «the prosecution’s star witness.»
From CNN’s Marshall Cohen
In opening statements Tuesday, prosecutors detailed Paul Manafort’s «extravagant lifestyle,» and said it was funded by «secret income» that he earned from his lobbying in Ukraine.
To demonstrate Manafort’s lavish spending habits, Uzo Asonye, a prosecutor working on the case with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, pointed to specific details:
Manafort is accused of filing false tax returns, failing to report foreign bank accounts, and defrauding several banks. If Manafort is convicted, these serious financial crimes could carry a total sentence of 300 years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty.
From CNN’s Marshall Cohen
In opening statements Tuesday, prosecutors painted former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort as a «shrewd» liar who orchestrated a global scheme to avoid paying taxes on millions of dollars.
Manafort lived an «extravagant lifestyle» fueled by millions of dollars in «secret income» that he earned from his lobbying in Ukraine, said Uzo Asonye, a prosecutor working on the case with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team.
From CNN’s Evan Perez, Marshall Cohen and David Shortell
A federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, granted a request for five witnesses to testify with immunity during Manafort’s trial.
The five witnesses granted immunity are:
Court filings do not provide details as to what each will be testifying about.
Watch more:
Paul Manafort served as President Trump’s campaign chairman between June and August 2016, resigning amid questions over his lobbying overseas.
He has a long career in politics: In the 1980s, he founded a lobbying firm with Roger Stone, another Trump adviser under investigation.
Manafort is charged with bank fraud and tax crimes. 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.
He has pleaded not guilty.
He’s also scheduled to face trial in Washington, DC, on related charges in September.
Watch more:
From CNN’s Katelyn Polantz
A jury of six men and six women has been sworn in for the criminal trial of Paul Manafort in Alexandria, Virginia.
Also selected were four alternate jurors of three women and one man.
It took seven rounds of the selection process for attorneys on both sides to reach 12 jurors.
Though the initial jury pool of 65 people from Northern Virginia was largely white, the group that will decide Manafort’s guilt was quite diverse, with at least three of the jurors not being white and two not white alternates as well. They range in age.
The court will take a lunch break for almost an hour, and opening statements are expected to begin this afternoon.
