LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Paul Manafort’s lawyers declined Tuesday [8-14-18] to call any witnesses to defend him against charges of bank and tax fraud. Mr. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, also told the judge that he did not want to testify, clearing the way for closing arguments from both sides and the start of jury deliberations on Wednesday [8-15-18]. The decision by the defense to rest without presenting its own evidence was not unusual…Mr. Manafort is letting the case go to the jury because he and his attorneys ‘do not believe that the government has met its burden of proof,’ said Kevin Downing, the lead defense lawyer in the case. Earlier on Tuesday, Judge T.S. Ellis III of the United States District Court in Alexandria also denied a motion by Mr. Manafort’s lawyers to acquit him on all 18 charges without giving the case to the jury, another standard defense tactic as trials wind down. He closed the courtroom for more than two hours to discuss another defense motion that has been sealed, along with the government’s response. Prosecutors for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, rested their case Monday [8-13-18] after calling roughly two dozen witnesses and introducing hundreds of exhibits. Mr. Manafort, 69, is accused of evading taxes on roughly $16.5 million in income that he earned working for pro-Russia political forces in Ukraine. When that income ran out, prosecutors claim, he fraudulently obtained more than $20 million in bank loans so he could maintain an extravagant lifestyle.”
–Sharon LaFraniere, “Manafort Lawyers Rest Without Calling Witnesses in Fraud Trial,” The New York Times online, August 14, 2018