Manafort trial jury hears opening arguments
Ex-Trump campaign chief labeled victim and villain
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Federal prosecutors clashed with defense attorneys Tuesday over starkly rivaling portraits of Paul Manafort: The government asserted he built a fortune on a foundation of lies, and the former Trump campaign chairman’s lawyer said his client simply trusted the wrong person.
It was only minutes into the opening argument of Manafort attorney Thomas Zehnle before the lawyer pointed the finger at the government’s star witness and former Manafort business partner, Rick Gates, whom Zehnle described as the source of virtually all of Manafort’s trouble.
“This case is about taxes and trust,” Zehnle said of the bank and tax fraud case against his client. “This is about Mr. Manafort placing his trust in the wrong person.”
Gates pleaded guilty this year to conspiracy and lying to the FBI. As part of his deal with the government, he agreed to cooperate with investigators, and he headlines a list of 35 potential witnesses against Manafort.
During his presentation, Zehnle asked Manafort to stand, describing him as once representing the “pinnacle” of American politics.
Prosecutors presented a blistering account of Manafort’s business dealings, alleging that he used a web of deceit and secret bank accounts to ac- quire tens of millions in income for his consulting work in Ukraine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Uzo Asonye said Manafort propped up a “lifestyle of extravagance” by falsifying applications for millions of dollars in loans.
“A man in this courtroom believes the law did not apply to him,” Asonye told a jury panel that had been seated less than an hour before.
The panel of six men and six women, plus four alternates, was selected in less than four hours as prosecutors quickly culled a pool of 65 prospective jurors.
The first government witness was political strategist and former Manafort contractor Tad Devine.
Devine, a senior consultant to the presidential campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, detailed a long association with Manafort in Ukraine – from 2005 to 2014 – in which the partnership helped elect Viktor Yanukovych, leader of a pro-Russia political faction. Yanukovych is now in exile in Moscow.
Devine said he was paid $600,000 for his work, including a $100,000 bonus, for helping to engineer Yanukovych’s victory in 2010. The government asserted that the money was paid by wire transfers from Manafort’s secret foreign bank accounts.
U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III said he expects the trial to last about three weeks.
At the start of the jury selection, nine panelists reported social or employment contacts at the Justice Department. The quick show of hands drew a ripple of laughter from the gallery and the judge. “Remind me not to ask that question again,” Ellis quipped.