Former campaign chair gets mistrial on 10 of 18 counts against him
Alexandria, Va. — A jury found former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort guilty Tuesday on tax and bank fraud charges — a major if not complete victory for special counsel Robert Mueller III as he continues to investigate the president's associates.
The jury convicted Manafort on eight of the 18 counts against him and said it was deadlocked on the other 10. U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis declared a mistrial on those charges.
Wearing a black suit, Manafort stood impassively, his hands folded in front of him, and showed little reaction as the clerk read the word “guilty” eight separate times. As through most of the three-week trial, Manafort showed no emotion as he looked at the six women and six men who convicted him.
President Donald Trump reacted to the verdict by denouncing Mueller's investigation.
“Paul Manafort's a good man,” the president told reporters in West Virginia. The verdict, he said, “doesn't involve me but I still feel, you know, it's a very sad thing that happened.”
He pointed out that the charges in Manafort's case did not involve Mueller's core mission of investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether any Americans conspired with those efforts.
“This is a witch hunt that ends in disgrace,” Trump said.
For Trump, the outcome of Manafort’s trial was only half of a double-barreled blast of bad news Tuesday. Shortly after the verdict was read, the president’s former longtime attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty in an unrelated case to eight crimes, saying that among other things, he helped arrange hush money payments at the direction of then-candidate Trump.
Manafort, 69, was found guilty of filing a false tax return in each of the years from 2010 through 2014, as well as not filing a form in 2012 to report a foreign bank account as required. He was also convicted of two instances of bank fraud, related to a $3.4 million loan from Citizens Bank and a $1 million loan from Banc of California.
The charges on which the jury deadlocked included three counts for not filing a form to report a foreign bank account, and seven counts for committing bank fraud or conspiring to commit bank fraud.
The judge thanked the jurors for their service and they were dismissed, leaving the courthouse without speaking to reporters. The judge has ordered their names not be disclosed in court records.
Once the jury left the courtroom, Ellis asked Manafort to approach the lectern. The judge told him that he would order a pre-sentencing report and it was important for Manafort to “pay careful attention to the preparation of the document.”
Manafort’s wife declined to speak to reporters as she left the courthouse.
Lead defense attorney Kevin Downing said Manafort was “disappointed” in the verdict, though he also wanted to thank the judge “for giving him a fair trial,” and the jurors for their deliberations.
Manafort’s lawyers asked for 30 days to file a motion for a new trial or for the judge to toss out the verdict. Manafort “is evaluating all of his options at this point,” Downing said.
His possible prison sentence wasn’t immediately clear, but legal experts said he likely faces roughly seven to 10 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. Trump has repeatedly declined to discuss whether he might someday pardon Manafort.
The conviction, analysts say, might increase the pressure on Manafort to cooperate with Mueller in hopes of getting a sentencing break. “Now that he’s seen how this goes, maybe he is now more likely to want to consider working out a plea deal,” said Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney who observed much of the trial.
The verdict comes as Trump has stepped up his criticism of Mueller’s investigation, publicly criticizing it on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. As the Manafort trial began, Trump called for the probe to be shut down immediately.
Manafort’s guilty verdict may strengthen Mueller’s hand as he continues to investigate possible conspiracy and seeks an interview with the president; an acquittal could have led to a broader effort by conservatives to shut down the special counsel’s office.