LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “In a break with convention, President Donald Trump weighed in on a criminal trial as the jury considered a verdict on Friday [8-17-18], calling the tax and bank fraud case against Paul Manafort ‘very sad’ and lauding his former campaign chairman as a ‘very good person.’ A federal court jury in Alexandria, Virginia completed its second day of deliberations without reaching a verdict in the first trial stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 15-month-old investigation of Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis, presiding over the case, said he personally had received threats related to the trial and was being protected by U.S. marshals. Ellis revealed the threats as he rejected a motion by a group of news organizations to make public the names of the jurors, saying he was concerned about their ‘peace and safety’…In remarks to reporters at the White House, Trump again called Mueller’s investigation, which had cast a cloud over his presidency, a ‘rigged witch hunt,’ but sidestepped a question about whether he would issue a presidential pardon for Manafort.”
–Nathan Layne, Karen Freifeld, “Trump defends ex-aide Manafort as jury ends second day of deliberations,” Reuters, August 17, 2018 3:03 am