2016 ELECTION/LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Paul Manafort on Tuesday [7-31-18] will become the first of President Donald Trump’s former aides to go on trial, accused of bank and tax fraud by federal investigators probing Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Despite a focus on financial crimes, the trial could yield politically damaging headlines about a man who ran Trump’s campaign for three months and attended a June 2016 meeting with Russians offering damaging information on Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton that is now a focal point of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 14-month-old investigation…He said Trump could help the public understand what is at stake in Mueller’s investigation, which both Trump and Caputo have called a ‘witch hunt’ aimed at ending his presidency. Prosecutors are expected to argue that Manafort’s lavish spending on suits, homes and luxury items did not match the income declared on his tax returns and that he misled lenders when he borrowed tens of millions of dollars against New York real estate. On Monday, prosecutors said in court filings that they intend to prove that Manafort earned more than $60 million lobbying for the former pro-Russia Ukrainian government and failed to report ‘a significant percentage’ of that.”
–Nathan Layne, Karen Freifeld, “Manafort is first ex-Trump aide to go on trial in Russia probe,” Reuters, July 30, 2018 3:08 am