Manafort jury ends third day

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The jury weighing the fate of President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort ended its third day of deliberations Monday.

The six-woman, six-man jury in Alexandria, Virginia, did ask to stay slightly longer than usual — until 6:15 p.m. — before going home for the night Monday. They are scheduled to renew their work Tuesday morning.

Outside the courthouse, defense attorney Kevin Downing said, “Mr. Manafort’s very happy to hear that” the jury would continue deliberating Tuesday. “He thinks it was a very good day.”

The panel heard two weeks of testimony before beginning deliberations last week. Prosecutors charge that from 2010 to 2014, Manafort hid more than $15 million from the IRS — money he made as a political consultant in Ukraine.

When that income ended in 2014, authorities charge Manafort lied to banks to get millions of dollars more in loans to support his seven-figure lifestyle.

On Thursday, the jury asked U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis to clarify some legal elements in the case that had been raised by the defense team. They deliberated again Friday without asking for further guidance from the judge.

Manafort, 69, could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted of the most serious charges in the case.

The trial is the first to emerge from the office of special counsel Robert Mueller.

The president has repeatedly spoken out publicly in support of Manafort, both at the outset of the trial and during jury deliberations.