Jury adjourns without reaching verdict in Manafort trial

ALEXANDRIA ( United States): The jury adjourned without reaching a verdict in the trial of President Donald Trump’s former campaign chief Paul Manafort, the first resulting from the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

The jurors deliberated for more than eight hours on Monday during their third day weighing the fate of Manafort, 69, who is accused of providing fraudulent statements to secure bank loans and failing to pay taxes on tens of millions of dollars he earned while advising Russianbacked politicians in Ukraine between 2006 and 2015.

Manafort “thinks it was a very good day”, his lawyer Kevin Downing told journalists.

The case stems from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election – and possible collusion between the Trump campaign team and Moscow.

While Manafort is not charged with any crimes related to his brief time as Trump’s campaign chairman, the trial is seen as an important test for the Mueller probe, which Trump has repeatedly denounced as a “witch hunt”.

“Where’s the Collusion? They made up a phony crime called Collusion, and when there was no Collusion they say there was Obstruction (of a phony crime that never existed),” the president tweeted on Monday, referring to Mueller’s investigators as “Angry Democrat Thugs”.

Trump views the probe as a stain on his presidency, and frequently calls for its end. He weighed in on the case last Friday in an extraordinary commentary by a sitting president about an ongoing trial.

Asked if he would pardon Manafort if he is convicted, Trump declined to comment.