8/1/2018

LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Prosecutors on Wednesday [8-1-2018] introduced into evidence dozens of business, loan and tax-preparation records seized last year from the Virginia condominium owned by Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman now on trial on tax and bank-fraud charges. An FBI agent, Matthew Mikuska, testified that he and about 14 other FBI employees searched Mr. Manafort’s 4th-floor condominium one day in the summer of 2017 at 6:30 a.m. after knocking several times. They eventually used a key to enter, Mr. Mikuska said. Prosecutors working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller introduced the seized documents as part of their effort to prove that Mr. Manafort lied on tax returns and loan documents about the extent of his income from his political work in Ukraine…Defense lawyers have said Mr. Manafort was being kept in solitary confinement for his own safety. He has described his jail experience as ‘VIP’ treatment, according to court papers filed by prosecutors, although he has since been moved to a different jail. Mr. Trump’s tweet followed an earlier one Wednesday in which Mr. Trump urged Attorney General Jeff Sessions to shut down the Russia investigation ‘before it continues to stain our country any further.'”

Del Quentin Wilber and Aruna Viswanatha, “Dozens of Manafort’s Seized Records Introduced at Trial,” The Wall Street Journal, August 1, 2018 2:58 pm