2016 ELECTION/LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Paul Manafort had ‘a huge dumpster of hidden money’ abroad, a prosecutor said on Wednesday [8-15-18], urging a jury to convict U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign chief on financial fraud charges based more on a paper trail of evidence than on the testimony of a former protege. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Andres gave his closing statement in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, where Manafort is on trial on tax and bank fraud charges, along with failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. The jury is expected to begin deliberating on a verdict on Thursday [8-16-18] morning. The trial is the first to come out of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The charges involve tax and bank fraud, not possible collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign for president. A Manafort conviction would undermine efforts by Trump and some Republican lawmakers to paint Mueller’s Russia inquiry as a political witch hunt, while an acquittal would be a setback for the special counsel.”
–Karen Freifeld, Nathan Layne, “Ex-Trump aide Manafort had ‘huge dumpster of hidden money,’ jury told,” Reuters, August 15, 2018 3:09 am