Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman has been found guilty on eight counts of bank and tax fraud, a jury has ruled. The jury was undecided on the 10 other counts against political strategist Paul Manafort, leading Judge TS Ellis to declare a mistrial on those charges. The jury took four days to find Mr Manafort guilty on on five counts of tax fraud, one count of failing to disclose his foreign bank accounts, and two counts of bank fraud.
An attorney for Mr Manafort said his client was disappointed by the ruling, and was evaluating all of his options. Mr Manafort had pleaded not guilty to all 18 charges. No sentencing date has been set, as his attorneys have until 29 August to decide if they will seek a retrial. Prosecutors previously recommended 8 – 10 years in prison if he was found guilty on all charges.
Mr Manafort is the first former Trump campaign official to be found guilty on charges stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Mr Trump has repeatedly dismissed Mr Mueller’s investigation as a “witch hunt” and called for it to end. He has also been quick to point out that this case does not involve Mr Manafort’s work on his campaign, or contain any allegations of Trump team collusion with Russia. Arriving in West Virginia for a rally on Tuesday night, the president said he “felt badly” for Mr Manafort, but added that the case had “nothing to do with me”. Trump tactically distancing himself from any of his previous campaign managers dodgy actions. In previous tweets, Mr Trump has suggested that his campaign manager’s case was handled unfairly, saying Mr Manafort was being “treated worse” than legendary mafia boss Al Capone.
Here are just a few of Trumps tweets regarding the high profile case
After the jury’s verdict was released, vice chair of the Senate intelligence committee Mark Warner in complete contrast to the president said that the decision “makes it absolutely clear that the Mueller probe is not a ‘witch hunt’ – it is a serious investigation that is rooting out corruption and Russian influence on our political system at the highest levels”.
“The president’s campaign manager was just convicted of serious federal crimes by a jury of his peers, despite the president’s continued attempts to undermine the investigation which has brought Mr Manafort to justice,” he added.
A number of Democratic senators joined Mr Warner in calling for an end to any talk of pardoning Mr Manafort. Senator Patrick Leahy said any attempt to pardon the strategist would “have Watergate written all over it”.
Trump is still saying how it is very said what the department of justice has done to Paul Manafort, showing he thinks the verdict and trial is completely undeserved which gives the foreshadowing that a very controversial presidential pardon could be heading Mr Manaforts way , but if that does happen i believe that could be the point of no return for Trumps Presidency.
Politics according to JT 