It's 6:13 a.m. and a line is just starting to form outside the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, where jury selection is starting today in Paul Manafort's first trial. Stay tuned 
We have a jury for Paul Manafort's first trial in Alexandria: Six women, six men, and four alternates (three women and one man). We're taking a break for lunch until 2:45p, and then we'll go into jury instructions and opening statements, per the judge
We did learn a few new pieces of information. In asking jurors if they had connections to the case, the judge named four financial institutions that Manafort is accused of defrauding - Genesis Capital, Citizens Bank, Bank of California, and Federal Savings Bank
We know very little about the jurors, beyond what they look like. Most of voir dire took place at the bench with the courtroom husher on, so we could not hear the discussion between the judge, potential jurors, and the lawyers
On the evidence Paul Manafort wants excluded about his work in Ukraine, the judge did not rule — he said he agreed with the govt that it was relevant, but basically said they needed to think about prejudice and that he didn't want data dumps (evidence in the record w/ no context)
So Paul Manafort's first trial is finally underway. What he's charged with, what kind of prison time he's facing, who the players are, and what we know so far about evidence and witnesses to come buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Oh! And I see there was more Manafort news while we were in the courthouse with no phones, from @chrisgeidner: An Appeals Court Just Rejected Paul Manafort's Request To Be Let Out Of Jail Until His Trial buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisg…
(Fwiw, the judge repeated his joke from last time about how the jurors in Paul Manafort's case will get lunch, but that they shouldn't look for baked Alaska on the menu)
