Manafort convicted of 8 charges

Mistrial on 10 other counts

ALEXANDRIA, Va. —A federal jury convicted Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, of eight counts of tax evasion and bank fraud Tuesday, a victory for special counsel Robert Mueller in the first criminal trial brought by his office.

The jury said it was deadlocked on 10 related charges and the judge declared a mistrial on them after four days of deliberations and a 12-day trial that focused in part on Manafort’s gilded lifestyle, making him a symbol of greed in the Trump era.

He was convicted on five counts of filing false tax returns, one count of not filing a report on a foreign bank account and two counts of bank fraud. He could be sentenced to up to 80 years in prison.

The case focused chiefly on Manafort’s efforts to hide tens of millions of dollars from his work as a political consultant in Ukraine before he joined Trump’s presidential campaign in March 2016. But evidence introduced at trial indicated some of the actions occurred as

Manafort steered the candidate through the Republican National Convention in Cleveland that summer.

Evidence also showed that after the election, Manafort, 69, tried to secure a job in the Trump administration for a Chicago bank executive who helped him get $16 million in loans in 2016 that prosecutors said were based on fraudulent documents. No job ultimately was arranged, although the executive was given an advisory position on Trump’s campaign.

None of the charges cited Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, the initial focus of the special counsel’s wide-ranging probe. But the verdict could strengthen Mueller’s hand as he spars with Trump’s lawyers over whether the president will agree to an interview — or face a potential subpoena — in coming months.

The guilty verdict is also politically awkward for Trump, and he appeared to question the verdict after he arrived Tuesday in Charleston, W.Va., for a campaign rally.

“This is a witch hunt, and it’s a disgrace,” Trump told reporters.

The question of a presidential pardon has hung over Manafort’s case ever since he decided to risk a trial — and the stiffer prison sentence that could result — rather than cut a deal with the special counsel’s office as other defendants have done.

Trump didn’t mention a pardon Tuesday, but he said Manafort was treated unfairly by prosecutors, a description he’s deployed when issuing previous pardons.

“I feel very badly for Paul Manafort,” the president said. The case against him had “nothing to do with Russian collusion,” insisting the special counsel’s office had strayed from its “original mission.”

Manafort