Judge seals discussion of Rick Gates, Trump and the ongoing Mueller investigation
Paul Manafort, President Trump’s onetime campaign chairman, is on trial in federal court in Alexandria on bank and tax fraud charges. Prosecutors allege he failed to pay taxes on millions he made from his work for a Russia-friendly Ukrainian political party, then lied to get loans when the cash stopped coming in.
The case is being prosecuted by the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
10:45 a.m.: Special counsel again asks judge to tell jury he was wrong
Perhaps emboldened by their small victory Thursday, when
Judge T.S. Ellis III conceded he was “probably wrong” to lambaste the special counsel for doing something he allowed them to do, prosecutors in the Paul Manafort trial have now asked him to tell the jury to ignore another of his intemperate comments.
On Thursday, after Assistant U.S. Attorney Uzo Asonye walked a banker through a $5.5 million loan negotiation with Paul Manafort that ended in rejection, the judge cut in with skepticism.
“You might want to spend time on a loan that was granted,” he said.
[Paul Manafort trial Day 8: Live coverage where Ellis interjected quip]
When Asonye protested that the attempt to get that loan constituted one of the bank fraud conspiracy charges against Manafort, Ellis responded harshly, “I know that.”
“The Court’s statement that the government ‘might want to spend time on a loan that was granted’ misrepresents the law regarding bank fraud conspiracy, improperly conveys the Court’s opinion of the facts, and is likely to confuse and mislead the jury,” prosecutors wrote in their filing Friday morning. “The Court should provide a curative instruction in order to avoid any potential prejudice to the government.”
Defense attorneys in other cases have pointed to similar comments from Ellis when challenging guilty verdicts in the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But prosecutors cannot appeal a not-guilty verdict, and so the special counsel has begun challenging Ellis mid-trial.
[Judge in Manafort trial concedes mistake after berating Mueller’s prosecutors]
Prosecutors filed a similar motion Thursday morning, after Ellis yelled at prosecutors for allowing their expert witness to sit through the trial in the gallery, when witnesses are typically excluded from the courtroom so as not to be influenced by other witnesses’ testimony. The transcript of the first day of trial showed Ellis had explicitly allowed the expert, an IRS agent, to stay in the courtroom.
Ellis responded in court by saying that while he had not checked the transcript, he “may well have” allowed the expert in and that the jury should disregard his comments.
9:21 a.m.: Is Rick Gates providing further cooperation to the Mueller investigation? Judge seals transcript.
The judge overseeing the Paul Manafort trial on Thursday granted a request from the special counsel’s office to keep secret a conversation that might shed light on its ongoing investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia.
The conversation came on Tuesday, as Rick Gates, Manafort’s business partner who worked on both the Trump campaign and the Trump inaugural, was on the witness stand. During his cross examination of Gates, Manafort defense attorney Kevin Downing asked if, during Gates’s cooperation with the special counsel after he agreed to a plea deal, he was interviewed about the Trump campaign. Gates said he had been.
Rick Gates, former top associate of Paul Manafort, leaves the federal courthouse in Washington in February
“And were you interviewed on several occasions about your time at the Trump campaign?” Downing continued.
“Objection, your honor,” special counsel prosecutor Greg Andres interjected.
The lawyers then convened at the bench of Judge T.S. Ellis III as white noise was piped through the courtroom. Gates was ultimately never asked to answer the question, and the conversation between the lawyers and Ellis, known as a bench conference or sidebar, was sealed in a transcript produced by the court reporter.
On Thursday, the special counsel’s office asked the judge to keep it that way.
[Former Trump campaign official Rick Gates pleads guilty to 2 charges]
“Disclosing the identified transcript portions would reveal substantive evidence pertaining to an ongoing investigation,” the special counsel’s office wrote. “The government’s interest in protecting the confidentiality of its ongoing investigations is compelling and justifies sealing the limited portion of the sidebar conference at issue here. In addition, sealing will minimize any risk of prejudice from the disclosure of new information relating to that ongoing investigation.”
The special counsel’s office wrote that that their concerns about making the conversation public would “continue until the relevant aspect of the investigation is revealed publicly, if that were to occur.”
[Read the superseding criminal information filed against Rick Gates]
Ellis granted their request, writing it was necessary because making the conversation public would “reveal substantive evidence pertaining to an ongoing government investigation.” The public was left with a mere tantalizing hint about what Gates might have told the special counsel about his time on the Trump campaign, and what “new information” might have been revealed in the discussion at Ellis’s bench.
9:05 a.m.: Prosecution expected to rest case against Manafort today
Prosecutors expect to rest their case against Paul Manafort on Friday after calling four or five more witnesses to round out their case. That is an increase from their previous estimate, though one of the witnesses has testified in the case before.
Among those expected to take the stand are officials from Federal Savings Bank, one of the institutions Manafort is accused of defrauding to get a loan. That testimony could be particularly interesting because Manafort took steps to try to get Stephen Calk, the founder and chief executive of the bank, a job as Army secretary in the Trump administration, as well as an invite to the presidential inauguration. Calk himself, though, is not expected to be called by prosecutors.
[Here are six things you need to know about Paul Manafort’s trial]
Prosecutors also say they intend to call a man whose online bio says he is senior director of ticket operations for the New York Yankees. Manafort is accused of having his former associate Rick Gates claim, falsely, that he had used Manafort’s credit card to purchase Yankees season tickets.
After prosecutors wrap up their presentation, defense attorneys will be given an opportunity to call their own witnesses. It is unknown how many people — if any at all — they intend to call. Testimony resumes at 9:30 a.m.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...l-day-9-live-coverage/?utm_term=.bc20e24be036
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.….. looks like this show is finally going to get on the road tomorrow...…
