Manafort trial, day two: We'll be hearing from at least two more government witnesses, political consultant Daniel Rabin and an FBI agent. Stay tuned. And for a refresher on all the day one excitement: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Judge is taking a quick recess in Manafort's trial. A few updates:
- Before the jury came in, the judge admonished the lawyers not to use the term "oligarch" to describe wealthy Ukrainians who allegedly paid for Manafort's work. Has "pejorative" meaning, he said
- Before the jury came in, the judge admonished the lawyers not to use the term "oligarch" to describe wealthy Ukrainians who allegedly paid for Manafort's work. Has "pejorative" meaning, he said
- More on "oligarch" — judge said the term implied Manafort was being paid by criminals, and there wouldn't be evidence about that. Judge: Case will not be tried that "he associated with despicable people, and therefore he is despicable. That's not the American way."
- We heard from political media consultant Daniel Rabin, who made TV ads for Manafort for Ukrainian candidates/parties, incl. former president Viktor Yanukovych. Rabin talked about Manafort being good at what he did, extent to which he oversaw the work and ran things
- Over Manafort objection, govt was allowed to introduce into the record (but not to put up on a screen in the courtroom) one of the photos taken of Yanukovych while he was meeting people on a TV ad set.
- As he did yesterday with Tad Devine, Manafort's lawyer asked Rabin about how, regardless of what political party consultants handled in the US, they sometimes came together for int'l campaigns. Rabin agreed — but Qs didn't explicitly get into who was Dem and who was Republican
- We're in the middle now of hearing from an FBI special agent who was involved in searching Manafort's condo in Alexandria. The govt is using this testimony to get a lot of financial documents introduced that were seized, incl. invoices for pricey home upgrades
- The agent also said that it was not a "no-knock" search — he said they knocked and announced themselves three times, waiting 30 seconds in between each time, before entering the apartment
- Heading back into the courtroom, but I will leave you with an Ellis-ism from this morning. At one point, he asked Rabin to speak up as he testified: "My hearing is not what it once was," the judge said. "Nothing is what it once was."
Lunch break. A few key takeaways:
- Govt lawyer said they may call Rick Gates, they may not. That caused a stir — blaming Gates is a big part of the defense. But the lawyer clarified that he meant they're reevaluating witnesses as the evidence is introduced, not just re: Gates
- Govt lawyer said they may call Rick Gates, they may not. That caused a stir — blaming Gates is a big part of the defense. But the lawyer clarified that he meant they're reevaluating witnesses as the evidence is introduced, not just re: Gates
- The judge has been limiting the govt from introducing evidence about Manafort's luxury lifestyle. Some info about his purchases may be relevant, the judge said, "but enough is enough — we don't convict people because they have a lot of money to throw around."
- Before the jury came in, the judge warned the lawyers about rolling their eyes or making faces in the courtroom. There has been tension as the judge has criticized the govt for how much evidence they're trying to introduce about Manafort's puchases and work in Ukraine
- A major issue was about the govt having the FBI special agent involved in searching Manafort's home read the contents of docs — the judge seemed frustrated by that approach, since the agent didn't know about the contents, but was just there to say where they were found
- We did see a few documents taken from Manafort's condo that appeared to show some communications about wire transfers to Manafort's alleged accounts in Cyprus, and transfers from those accounts to US vendors (like an antique rug dealer)
- We saw one memo from April 2013, purportedly from Manafort to "SL", described as a summary of accounts overdue. The doc said a $4.4M wire was needed ("I need all of this now," it said) and there were entries referring to "Hapsburg" (see: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…) and US lobbying
- There has not been testimony/evidence about who "SL" is. However, the govt did ask Daniel Rabin this morning if he knew Sergey Levochkin, who was chief of staff under former Ukrainian prez Viktor Yanukovych and has been linked to Manafort elsewhere: washingtonpost.com/news/democracy…
- Govt says they plan to get through a number of witnesses this p.m. The judge has been pushing the govt to be speedy — he's been skeptical of how much evidence they need to show re: what Manafort did in Ukraine, in addition to the issues he raised about the lifestyle evidence
Another quick break from trial: We heard from two witnesses — each worked for high-end men's clothing retailers (Alan Couture and House of Bijan) and testified that Manafort was a customer, and paid for suits and other garments via wire transfers from accounts in Cyprus
Both witnesses described Manafort as an important, high-volume customer, and the jury saw invoices for hundreds of thousands of dollars in clothes. The judge again admonished the govt not to make the trial about Manafort's lifestyle — prosecutor said it was about proving income
Just before break, the judge asked the jury if their lunch was satisfactory, and they nodded (this is a judge with strong feelings about the importance of lunch). He also said earlier he would grant their request to bring in a birthday cake on Friday (it's not the judge's bday)
We should have at least one more witness this afternoon, possibly more. The judge previously said he plans to go until around 5:30/6 most days.
We've wrapped up for the day (early!) One significant thing from the govt: They say they're ahead of schedule (the judge has *really* been pushing them to be speedy), and expect to finish up their case in chief next week.
The jury heard four more witnesses after 3pm, all testified about providing goods/services Paul Manafort paid for — a Mercedes Benz for his wife, a house/landscaping for his daughter, various home renos. For each one, govt presented evidence of wire transfers from Cyprus accounts
There were more admonishments from the judge to prosecutors about limiting evidence about Manafort's lifestyle, and about speeding things up. More on this in a bit. Tomorrow, we expect to hear from two more vendors, and then bookkeepers/accountants, per the govt
Day Two: The Judge In Paul Manafort's Case Is Pissed At Prosecutors For Focusing Too Much On His "Luxury" Lifestyle buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil… 
Day Two: The judge in Paul Manafort's case was ticked at prosecutors for focusing on his "luxury" lifestyle (and yes, there are links if you'd like to see all the photos of Manafort's suits and jackets entered into the record today) buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
