Trump: Manafort case ‘has nothing to do with Russia collusion’
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Paul Manafort, the longtime political operative who for months led Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign, was found guilty of eight financial crimes Tuesday in the first trial victory of the special counsel investigation into the president’s associates.
A judge declared a mistrial on 10 other counts the jury could not agree on.
The jury returned the decision after deliberating four days on tax and bank fraud charges against Manafort, who led Trump’s election effort during a crucial stretch of 2016.
Manafort’s lawyer, Kevin Downing, said Manafort was disappointed at “not getting acquittals all the way through a complete hung jury on all counts.” He said Manafort was evaluating all of his options.
The jury found Manafort guilty of five counts of filing false tax returns on tens of millions of dollars in Ukrainian political consulting income. He was also convicted of failing to report foreign bank accounts in 2012 and of two bank fraud charges that accused him of lying to obtain millions of dollars in loans after his consulting income dried up.
No sentencing date has been set. Prosecutors have until Aug. 29 to decide whether they will seek a retrial on the 10 counts where the jury hung.
The outcome almost certainly guarantees years of prison for Manafort, who faces another trial this fall in Washington. It also appears to vindicate the ability of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team to secure convictions despite months of partisan attacks, including from Trump, on the investigation’s integrity.
The verdict also raised immediate questions of whether the president would seek to pardon Manafort, the lone American charged by Mueller to opt for trial instead of cooperate. The president Tuesday called the outcome a “disgrace” and said the case “has nothing to do with Russia collusion.”