8/20/2018

LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The jury weighing more than a dozen bank and tax fraud charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort failed to return a verdict after its third day of deliberations on Monday [8-20-18], leading the defense team to sound a note of optimism after the weekslong trial. The 12-member jury, which had asked to end deliberations for the day at 6:15 p.m. ET, will return on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. ET. They must return a unanimous verdict to convict Manafort on each of the 18 charges against him. On the news that the jury hadn’t reached a verdict, Manafort attorney Kevin Downing told reporters, ‘Mr. Manafort was happy to hear that and thinks it was a very good day.’ Defense attorneys generally see long deliberations as an indication that jurors disagree about their clients’ guilt or have substantive concerns about complicated legal aspects of the case, which could lead to a hung jury, or that they have avoided rushing to judgment. But experts have cautioned that the case against Manafort is complex, and that jurors could simply be taking their time. The whirlwind trial is the first to result from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into Russian election meddling, although Manafort’s prosecution does not relate to any election interference or alleged collusion by the Trump team with Russian officials. A source close to the Manafort defense team told Fox News that after days of deliberations, the proceedings have taken on the feel of the run-up to the 2016 election, in which everyone had been suspecting things to go one way, only to be surprised by the outcome.”

Gregg Re, “Manafort, defense team ‘very happy’ after jury fails to reach verdict in third day of deliberations,” Fox News, August 20, 2018 1:00 pm