Tonight, day one of the manafort trial. The first of the mueller era. The government argues Paul Manafort thought he was above the law, while his defense team plans to attack the star government witness against him. The president started his day declaring collusion is not a crime, ending his day with red meat for the crowd in tampa, and no talk of russia. He did declare himself the most popular republican ever. And with 98 days until the midterms, facebook announces its found fake accounts designed to further tear us apart, and well show you if they have a familiar look to them. The 11th hour begins right now. Good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Day 558 of the Trump Administration, and day one of
the Paul Manafort trial, the first big test for Robert Mueller. It is a trial about taxes and not russia, though russia looms large in the background as it seems to in Everything Else these days. Manaforts being tried in Federal Court in alexandria, virgini
A look at breaking news, politics and reports from around the world. Collusion, wikileaks collaboration, or any other impropriety related to the 2016 election, which i thought was the subject of this probe. I understand she appeared voluntarily. I am highly confident she will testify truthfully if called upon to do so. Davis once ran a highend Prostitution Ring and went to jail in the scandal surrounding then democratic governor eliot spitzer. The remorse i feel will always be with me. Reporter she has worked with stone over the years. And in late 2016, she joined his payroll to help him with clerical tasks. Muellers team has been looking into possible contact between stone and wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, as well as stones contact with russia during the 2016 campaign. Stone admitted to trading direct twitter messages with guccifer 2. 0, which is now known to be an online persona for russian intelligence officers. But stone says the messages were innocuous. I certainly acknowledg
Not russia, though russia looms large in the background as it seems to in Everything Else these days. Manaforts being tried in Federal Court in alexandria, virginia. He was, of course, Trumps Campaign chairman, ran the rnc convention. Its the first of two trials for him, and this one hes looking at 18 counts of bank fraud, tax evasion, conspiracy charges in relation to his work for a prorussian party in ukraine before he went to work for the trump campaign. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. This trial is off to a lightning start. So far a jury has been seated. Opening statements have been delivered, and a witness has testified, all on day one. Manafort was a March To August Chairman back in 2016. He helped trump secure the nomination, make no mistake, and trump said so at the time. I have fantastic people. Paul manafort just came on. Hes great. He didnt need to do this, but he wanted to. Paul manafort has done an amazing job. He is here some place where. Is paul . However, more
Brian Williams examines the days top political stories and current politicalcampaign news. And Donald Trumps name wasnt mentioned today. Robert muellers name wasnt mentioned today. This trial does not have to do with any connection to the 2016 campaign. Nor does rick gates involvement dovetail with what he did in the 2016 campaign, nor his work on the inaugural committee. Its a highly separate trial involving past clients of Paul Manaforts. I think if were reading between the lines, its the prelude to something that is supposed to be bigger. Obviously the prosecutors have a case that theyre bringing here, but it does seem like theyre looking down the road to try to get or compel Paul Manafort to participate in the larger mission, which is the investigation to collusion in the trump campaign. And were all sort of waiting to see what manafort does under this type of pressure. I do agree that the case the defense he is bringing seems highly uncompelling. Basically, he is saying my underli
Interviews with political figures and news updates. Interviews with political figures and news updates. The jury that there is a third option, there is guilt, there is not guilty, and there is a hung jury. The judge declined to do that and said that if the jury were to come back again and say they remain deadlocked, the judge will ask them how many counts theyve reached a verdict on. Hell then consult with the lawyers and decide whether or not to take whats called a partial verdict which means to have the jury announce those counts to which theyve reached unanimous agreement. Now, correct me if im wrong, the trials that ive covered in the past, dan, and youre the lawyer and former prosecutor, a judge will only repeat that allen charge so many times, or else risk, you know, being overturned on appeal if it ends up being a conviction, that east putting too much pressure on a deadlocked jury. Youre exactly right, andrea. Even the judge mentioned that his objective was not to be coercive t