the president saying that s not the case. yeah, and it also i think even more than that, it did actually touch up against the campaign in ways that became apparent through the evidence. there was testimony relating to some of the bank fraud issues about a job offer to someone in the administration who helped get a large loan for manafort. the department of justice in this case actually showed an e-mail that was sent from paul manafort to jared kushner, the president s son-in-law that said i recommend you hire the head of this bank that manafort is trying to get loans from to be the secretary of the army. it never happened but there was an attempt. absolutely. and part of the bank fraud. this clearly did touch upon the campaign. not as directly as michael cohen stated in court today but it absolutely grew out of the campaign and also grew out of the investigation that was conducted. if you come across additional crimes in the course of the investigation, should the prosecutor ju
lee cell, the jury this morning asked the judge for a sort of change of venue, they tt that the jury room was too small to deliberate, they asked if they could do it in the rec room instead, the judge said that they could, that is where they are right now. this is the first day of deliberation. and the judge wanted to make sure that the six men and six women from northern virginia are focus more on the evidence then the sometimes salty comments he made to the mueller team about the approach, their witnesses and their evidence. the judge told the jury since you are the sole judgment of this case, do not take any court to question, asked witnesses as expressing an opinion on the evidence. the molar team conceded in their closing arguments that the business partner rick gates might have some credibility problems. greg andres told jurors that they do not need to trust every word that gates said, but they should put it into context with
governor. a republican looking to make a big comeback loses and learns a big lesson. people are going to ask you what you see in this result. i think the circumstances we live in in terms of a difference type of leadership and i just don t fit well into that era. into that picture. back to politics in a moment. we begin with the defining day in the paul manafort trial. one last chance for the lawyers to make their case. the government just finished its turn, its closing argument after the top prosecutor greg andres spent 90-plus minutes making his closing case. he boiled down ten days of testimony from witnesses to a single line. this is a case about lies, he said. the government framing its government this way. mr. manafort lied to keep more money when he had it and lied to get more machine when he didn t. shimon prokupecz joins me and has been tracking this trial from the beginning. 90 minutes or so.
alexandria a virginia with the very latest, catherine? thanks, harris, court started very promptly this morning at approximately 10:00 eastern. paul manafort was in the court wearing a navy blue suit, a blue shirt along with his lead attorney kevin downing who patted him on the back. they both smiled, seemed fairly relaxed given the circumstances. the government went first. the prosecution with their closing argument, and it was presented by prosecutor greg andres and had a central theme. it said that paul manafort is a liar. he hid his money. he avoided taxes. and then when he ran out of money, he lied again to obtain multi-million-dollar loans. andres told the jury, quote: mr. man ford lied to keep more money when he had it and lied to get more money when he didn t. this is a case about mr. manafort s lies. he hid money in foreign bank accounts, later spent that money on personal items and real estate. he is not above the law. in about a half hour s time the court will reconvene an
feel. suppose i change number 11 to say such comments permits a federal judge to comment to the jury on the evidence in the case. do you think i made any such comments? and then the transcript reflects laughter. judge says, do you think i made any such comments? the prosecutor he s having with the back and forth here doesn t respond. he just stands there and there s awkward laughter in the courtroom. from another part of the courtroom from the prosecutor s table, the other prosecutor waits a beat and stands up and speaks from the back of the courtroom. it s greg andres. he says to the judge, yes, your honor, yes, you did. which prompts more laughter in the courtroom. the judge says do you remember one. he says yes, i can remember several. whether he mr. gate testified he testified mr. manafort was very careful about his money and your honor said obviously not when you stole money from him. that was one that was particularly noteworthy. but there are others, your