Althouse: "The dueling summations ended in a heated confrontation over whether Mr. Manafort’s lawyers had crossed a line in seeking to sow doubt about the prosecutors’ motivations."

August 15, 2018

"The dueling summations ended in a heated confrontation over whether Mr. Manafort’s lawyers had crossed a line in seeking to sow doubt about the prosecutors’ motivations."

"While the fraud charges against Mr. Manafort are not related to Mr. Mueller’s inquiry into Russian interference in 2016, as Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman he might know about Moscow’s efforts to influence the campaign. Without saying so directly, the defense lawyers made clear that Mr. Manafort was a Republican, telling jurors that he had worked on the presidential campaigns of Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, Gerald R. Ford and George Bush. Though they did not mention Mr. Trump by name, they said that Mr. Manafort had no income in 2016 because he had volunteered for 'a presidential campaign.' After prosecutors protested, Judge T.S. Ellis III of the United States District Court in Alexandria instructed the jury to 'ignore any argument about the Justice Department’s motive or lack of motive in bringing this prosecution.'"

From "Evidence Against Manafort Is ‘Overwhelming,’ Prosecutors Say" (NYT).

55 comments:

tcrosse said...: Unring that bell.; 8/15/18, 8:23 PM
Darrell said...: Never cast aspersions at big baby Bob Mueller.
Big babies do cry.; 8/15/18, 8:24 PM
stephen cooper said...: If Manafort's lawyers can't get at least a hung jury they are incompetent.

Everybody knows that.; 8/15/18, 8:26 PM
traditionalguy said...: Trust the Jury. It is not enough to tell jurors that you represent the U S Government and that creates a presumption the accused man
Is guilty of something. Juries are smarter than that. Maybe guilty is not enough.; 8/15/18, 8:29 PM
chickelit said...: It’s pretty obvious to a lay person that the government’s motivation was to use Manafort to get to Trump. Maybe soften him up beween conviction and sentencing. So, good for the defense to remind jurors of this fact.; 8/15/18, 8:32 PM
Henry said...: I admit, I did not know it was wrong to sow doubts about the prosecutors motivations.

The one time I was a juror, we rendered an obvious non-guilty verdict for a woman accused of assault.

After we rendered the verdict, the judge came to speak with us, to answer any questions we might have.

When asked why the case was even brought to trial, the judge had no problem sowing doubts about the DA's motivations.; 8/15/18, 8:33 PM
Seeing Red said...: The dueling summations ended in a heated confrontation over whether Mr. Manafort’s lawyers had crossed a line in seeking to sow doubt about the prosecutors’ motivations.

Isn’t that a defense attorney job?; 8/15/18, 8:38 PM
Michael K said...: I agree with most above but this is an Alexandria jury.; 8/15/18, 8:39 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: Why can't he argue the motives are inpure. I don't understand.

Isn't that just asking for jury nullification. Isn't that why we have juries; 8/15/18, 8:40 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: I'm with Dr. K. I don't think a jury of northern Virginia government workers and other trough feeders are going to acquit anyone associated with Trump.

They'll find him guilty out of spite.; 8/15/18, 8:42 PM
Original Mike said...: “...seeking to sow doubt about the prosecutors’ motivations."

There is no doubt as to the prosecutors’ motivations.; 8/15/18, 8:42 PM
rhhardin said...: Malicious prosecution. That's what juries are for.; 8/15/18, 8:44 PM
bagoh20 said...: In a free country with a bill of rights like ours, I'd think that the motivation of the prosecution would be the first issue to resolve before moving to others.

"Why are we here?" is always an important question before acting with serious consequences.; 8/15/18, 8:45 PM
stephen cooper said...: Michael K - I live in Alexandria (not the city , the postal code that covers parts of Fairfax County near the incorporated city of Alexandria) .

If the defense lawyers screwed up on jury selection to only let in Trump-haters, they were incompetent.

Half of the people I live near are Trump fans, and I live in Alexandria.

No way somebody who does not hate Trump sends Manafort to fail for life on the word of obvious liars.; 8/15/18, 8:47 PM
David Begley said...: Manafort might know and he might not.

More speculation by the NYT.; 8/15/18, 8:51 PM
BamaBadgOR said...: Jury nullification anyone?; 8/15/18, 8:57 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: This is a good, valid case for jury nullification.; 8/15/18, 8:57 PM
mccullough said...: Manafort will get convicted on at least some of the counts and will be pardoned or his sentence commuted and he will have to pay the taxes owed. He’ll spend less time in prison than Gates. Flynn will get pardoned. This is how this stuff goes the last 30 years.

Sideshow Bob is following Walsh and Starr into oblivion.; 8/15/18, 9:01 PM
narciso said...: Now apelbaum reveals that Mrs akhmetshin was a Ukrainian intelligence officer, she wasn't present at trump tower, but it puts that meet in a different line, she apparently is,connected to miss chalupa, the Kiev provocateuress

So the fellows who were actually doing the lobbying; 8/15/18, 9:03 PM
Comanche Voter said...: Screw 'em if they can't take a justified jibe. This whole Manafort process stinks. Now it may well be (or at least it's possible) that Manafort failed to pay some income tax or to report some income.

But this was all years in the past, and had zippee doo dah to do with Russian collusion--whether with Trump or with the Clinton campaign in 2016. Mueller and his minions are way the heck and gone off the reservation of their original remit here.

The recent record of special prosecutors is pretty danged sorry.; 8/15/18, 9:04 PM
narciso said...: Podesta (who sank it into bad art) and Weber, are not in this courtroom, neither is Greg craig.; 8/15/18, 9:05 PM
Darrell said...: Did the jury get to hear about the pre-dawn no-knock raid led by Mueller and a SWAT team armed with automatic weapons that pulled the covers off Manafort and his wife and and did multiple body searches of said wife while she was wearing a nightie and being covered with machine guns?

Because that would get my "not guilty on all counts" vote in one millisecond of deliberation.; 8/15/18, 9:07 PM
narciso said...: In other news, one of Islamic states executioners surfaced in Sacramento, he was from Iraq, the country we were told was not a,problem for the immigration pause.; 8/15/18, 9:11 PM
Leland said...: I don't understand the limitation on the defense in making a case. Isn't he presumed innocent? Why can the prosecution bring in an admitted criminal that was given immunity to cast aspersions on the defendant, but the defendant is unable to cast any aspersions on the prosecutor?; 8/15/18, 9:14 PM
cronus titan said...: Spare us the whining about defense counsel challenging prosecutor motivations. Mueller's goon squad spent half the trial trying to force into evidence Manafort's spending habits. The judge repeatedly told them to knock it off because it was irrelevant and prejudicial yet they persisted until the judge started whacking them in front of the jury. It takes some set of balls to do that and then whine when THEIR motivations are put into play. One suspects they know they are vulnerable on the point which is why they whined about it.

Judge Ellis is right -- it was a stupid malicious prosecution. There was no victim in the "bank fraud" since Manafort has more then enough to pay it all back on time. The tax fraud charges were weak tea. While Mueller's goon squad sexed it up with Manafort's income over the years, he owed about $1 million in back taxes over a 5 year period. He can repay it with normal penalties. A 2-3 week federal trial for this is ridiculous.

Judge Ellis saw right through their bullshit.; 8/15/18, 9:14 PM
narciso said...: Interesting the weekly standard which strzok gofundme page is,using as a character reference, was pushing the dossiers latest hits before cross fire hurricane was underway.; 8/15/18, 9:15 PM
Henry said...: Isn’t that a defense attorney job?

The state is either evil or stupid. If the court presumes to say that the state cannot possibly be evil, then it must be stupid.; 8/15/18, 9:16 PM
cronus titan said...: And while I am at it, why is Mueller's goon squad prosecuting this case? These are old transactions having nothing to do with Russia or election interference. Why didn't Rosentein thank Mueller's goon squad for their service and send it to the appropriate US Attorney? Rosenstein is either stupid, complicit or the weakest personality in DoJ history.; 8/15/18, 9:19 PM
cronus titan said...: For those wondering about the jury pool in Alexandria . . . there is a reason James Hodgkinson was considered ordinary there.; 8/15/18, 9:21 PM
Darrell said...: I hope they impound Manafort's car and fill it with Regular Unleaded.; 8/15/18, 9:21 PM
CWJ said...: "Evidence Against Manafort Is ‘Overwhelming,’ Prosecutors Say" (NYT).

LOL LOL LOL LOL.

And what else would they say, and what else would the NYT report.; 8/15/18, 9:24 PM
narciso said...: Some of the predicate events that led us here:

https://mobile.twitter.com/themarketswork/status/10298; 8/15/18, 9:25 PM
Mark said...: While it sits in Alexandria, the court is the for the Eastern District of Virginia. So I would not be too sure that the jury pool is limited to Alexandria, and not from all over Northern Virginia - Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Annandale, Springfield, McLean, Prince William, etc.; 8/15/18, 9:29 PM
Francisco D said...: "Judge Ellis saw right through their bullshit."

One hopes that some members of the jury did as well.

Manafort may be a creepy political operative, but so is Mueller and members of the Clinton-Obama Crime Family.; 8/15/18, 9:40 PM
narciso said...: And the ap has the Mueller minions saying manafort lied on the stand, he didn't take the stand!; 8/15/18, 9:44 PM
jeremyabrams said...: Getting Ellis to say, "Please ignore the prosecution's motivation" was a coup for the defense.; 8/15/18, 9:50 PM
Mattman26 said...: Yeah right, don’t think about pink elephants.; 8/15/18, 9:53 PM
Sam L. said...: Manafort's lawyers have a DUTY to impugn the prosecutor's motivations.; 8/15/18, 10:04 PM
narciso said...: What do we have here:

http://amp.dailycaller.com/2018/08/15/george-papadopoulos-mueller-sentencing?__twitter_impression=true
http://amp.dailycaller.com/2018/08/15/george-papadopoulos-mueller-sentencing?__twitter_impression=true; 8/15/18, 10:20 PM
~ Gordon Pasha said...: Ballot box, Jury Box, ....; 8/15/18, 10:35 PM
David-2 said...: I've often wondered about jury instructions like this that tell the jury to disregard something: doesn't it sometimes instead direct the jury's attention to that thing?

In this case the last thing the jury hears the judge say about it is literally "the Justice Department’s motive or lack of motive in bringing this prosecution", leading them perhaps to more strongly consider their lack of motive?

Elsewhere I saw an article in the usual media highlighting the fact that this is the first of Mueller's indictments in his Russian investigation to come to trial - hilarious, of course, because in this story of "bank fraud" ... where is Russia?; 8/15/18, 11:04 PM
Wince said...: Evidence Against Manafort Is ‘Overwhelming’.

For all it matters that was true of Hillary.; 8/15/18, 11:09 PM
readering said...: Person who should most want to see Manafort sent away? Chris Christie, whom Manafort prevented from getting the VP nomination.; 8/15/18, 11:42 PM
Sprezzatura said...: But, did the defense ask if the gator jacket fits? If not, you must acquit.

You normal folks (on both sides) are funny!

Carry on.; 8/15/18, 11:43 PM
stephen cooper said...: anti-de Sitter space = nobody cares about what you think is funny when you are in a nasty mood.; 8/16/18, 12:15 AM
Sprezzatura said...: “ nobody cares about what you think is funny when you are in a nasty mood”

Presumably in addition to that circumstance, only one (i.e. me) cares re me when I’m being an asshole in these threads (i.e. always).

Mission accomplished!; 8/16/18, 12:41 AM
stlcdr said...: Isn't this simply courtroom arguing? Did NYT make up the 'crossing the line' or was that something that was said in court?; 8/16/18, 5:30 AM
tim in vermont said...: So when does Hillary's campaign manager John Podesta's trial for talking millions of dollars in stock from a Putin related company that collapsed the minute Hillary lost the election?; 8/16/18, 5:50 AM
tim in vermont said...: You think that Manafort could get a Marc Rich style pardon? Eric Holder might be running for president, so maybe it's in the cards? Except that Rich owed hundreds of millions in taxes when Clinton signed the pardon that Eric Holder wrote up. There is probably not enough vigorish in a million dollars in taxes to get the attention of a Democrat like Holder.; 8/16/18, 6:03 AM
stevew said...: Am I reading this correctly, did Manafort's defense team get the prosecution team to disavow any connection between this case and Mueller's Trump Russia Collusion® investigation?

-sw; 8/16/18, 6:07 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: But in a response that drew prosecutors’ ire, lawyers for Mr. Manafort, once President Trump’s campaign chairman, hinted that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, had charged Mr. Manafort to pressure him into cooperating with the inquiry into Russian influence over the 2016 presidential race.

Would he have been prosecuted if not for "volunteering" for Trump's campaign? Really?; 8/16/18, 7:04 AM
iowan2 said...: Would he have been prosecuted if not for "volunteering" for Trump's campaign? Really?

We already know the answer. This case was investigated back when it happened and the decision was NOT to indict. Mueller just pulled it off the shelf. The Judge has already called the prosecution out for malicious persecution, in open court.; 8/16/18, 7:25 AM
Will said...: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.... All of them...; 8/16/18, 8:18 AM
Molly said...: I followed the trial as reported in the washington post, which had live updates every two hours or so. It did appear to me that the prosecution did a good job of laying out the facts of the activities charged: Manafort made money abroad; he failed to report it correctly, including to the IRS; it was Manafort's money because he used it for his own consumption expenditures. (I didn't follow the testimony on the bank loan fraud very closely.) I did not hear any testimony that would attribute "intent" to Manafort. And I didn't see any reportage on whether judge's instructions included anything on intent. I've heard Manafort's lawyers say there was no intent to commit a crime. And I know that seemed to be central to Comey's determination that Hillary Clinton could not be successfully prosecuted for her private server. So I really think there is a high probability that the jury will come to guilty on the tax/"money laundering"/reporting charges. Unless they decide (or some jurors decide) that although the acts occurred, Manafort cannot be found guilty because there is doubt about whether he intended to commit those crimes. Does anyone know what the judge's instructions were? Or what the judge's instructions should have been about this?; 8/16/18, 9:19 AM
stevew said...: When do they offer Manafort immunity for this in return for testimony that helps prove Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia and/or obstructed the investigation into same? Or has that opportunity already passed?

-sw; 8/16/18, 9:27 AM