words to the jury, prosecutors today accused president trump s former campaign chairman paul manafort of, quote, two schemes. one to hide millions of dollars from the irs, the other to defraud banks into lending him millions more. mr. manafort lied to keep more money when he had it, they said, and he lied to get more money when he didn t. prosecutors say manafort had $60 million flowing through 31 offshore bank accounts, telling the jury, use your common sense. does it make sense that paul manafort had 31 overseas accounts and he forgot that he had to report them? they painted him as a canny manipulator, calling him capable and bright, adding, mr. manafort knows the law. manafort did not take the stand in his own trial. his lawyers presenting no witnesses on their own. but today, his attorneys told the jury that state did not meet the burden of proof. and they tore into the prosecution s star witness, manafort s former business partner, rick gates, who got a plea deal in exchan
serious damage that the government thinks was done to their case on cross. the cross examination did end. it was very brief this morning. and mr. gates was asked about a meeting in july of 2014, a time when he and mr. manafort sat down and talked to the fbi. one of the main take-aways from that testimony is that it was gates now testifying at the end of his cross that mr. manafort told him to be open and truthful with the fbi in discussing the various overseas offshore bank accounts that are at the very root of this entire case. as you know, poppy, it has been a tough few hours on the stand for mr. gates because, at the end of the day, not only did he have to admit and talk about crimes that he said he committed with manafort, but they also
testifying under a limited immunity deal from special counsel robert mueller. prosecutors say manafort used offshore bank accounts to hide millions that he was paid while doing political consulting work in ukraine. he is charged with failing to report those foreign bank accounts and with lying on his tax returns as well as lying on bank loan applications. laporta said in court that she and others at her accounting firm helped change $900,000 as a loan and that saved taxes for manafort in 2014. this is all building toward the big witness, rick gates, who has now flipped to provide testimony against his former boss. we expect gates will testify that he was part of the conspiracy to help manafort hide this money. manafort s lawyers of course are expected to attack gates testimony by pointing out that
manafort s business partner, rick gates. abc s kyra phillips at the courthouse in alexandria, virginia, tonight. reporter: president trump today, wading into the trial of his former campaign chairman, tweeting who was treated worse, alphonse capone, legendary mob boss, killer and public enemy number one, or paul manafort, political operative and reagan/dole darling, now serving solitary confinement, although convicted of nothing? this, though the president has distanced himself from manafort for months. manafort has nothing to do with our campaign. reporter: fact is, manafort ran the trump campaign during a crucial period. he s now accused of lying to the irs and hiding tens of millions of dollars in offshore bank accounts. money he made working for a ukrainian political party with deep ties to the kremlin. he has pleaded not guilty. today, prosecutors stunning the courtroom by declaring they may not call the man billed as their
he is accused of hiding the money in offshore bank accounts, opening more than 30 accounts in three countries and using the cash to bankroll his lavish lifestyle, luxury real estate, fancy suits, antique rugs. special counsel robert mueller s star witness, manafort s former business partner, rick gates, who also served as the president s deputy campaign manager through the election. gates pleading guilty to conspiracy and making false statements in exchange for his testimony. manafort s lawyer today charging gates is willing to say anything to save himself. because he embezzled millions of dollars. any reaction, mr. manafort? reporter: manafort allegedly committed his crimes well before he joined the trump campaign. the case doesn t involve any allegations of colluding with russia to meddle in the election. but the case seems to have shaken president trump,