LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP PEOPLE: “A jury was sworn in Tuesday [7-31-18] for the trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, with opening statements on deck in the first case that special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is bringing to trial. The 12-person jury selected for Manafort’s trial includes six men and six women. There are also four alternates, three women and one man. Manafort arrived at the courthouse Tuesday morning for the first day of his trial wearing a black suit, with his hair neatly parted. Manafort’s trial, in which he faces charges on 18 counts of violating tax and banking laws, is a high-profile test of the Mueller team’s investigation into Russian election interference in 2016. Beginning jury selection earlier Tuesday, Judge T.S. Ellis gave the pool of 65 potential jurors an overview of the charges against Manafort, though he reminded the group that the indictment ‘is not evidence of any guilt whatsoever.’ The pool was also nearly evenly split between men and women. The group was predominantly white, with fewer than a dozen non-white potential jurors. Most were comfortably middle-aged. Nine potential jurors indicated that they have connections to the Justice Department, including four who said they were current or former federal employees. Two joked that they were ‘recovering attorneys.’ All affirmed that they could handle the case without any bias.”
–Katelyn Polantz, Jeremy Herb and Marshall Cohen, “Jury selected in Paul Manafort trial,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, July 31, 2018 2:22 pm