LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been found guilty on eight counts of financial crimes, a major victory for special counsel Robert Mueller. But jurors were unable to reach a verdict on 10 charges, and Judge T.S. Ellis declared a mistrial on those counts. Manafort was found guilty of five tax fraud charges, one charge of hiding foreign bank accounts and two counts of bank fraud. He faces a maximum of 80 years in prison. The news came at the same time Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen was in a New York federal court to plead guilty to multiple counts of campaign finance violations, tax fraud and bank fraud. Landing in Charleston, West Virginia, Trump said that the charges Manafort was convicted of on Tuesday [8-21-18] have ‘nothing to do with Russian collusion’ and criticized Mueller’s investigation for arriving at this point. Manafort was charged with 18 counts of tax evasion, bank fraud and hiding foreign bank accounts in the first case Mueller brought to trial as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Ellis spoke directly to Manafort at podium to tell him he has been found guilty of several charges. He did not smile. His attorney Kevin Downing stood behind him.”
-Katelyn Polantz, Dan Berman, Marshall Cohen and Liz Stark, “Paul Manafort found guilty on eight counts,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, August 21, 2018 11:56 pm