Still no collusion.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors on Monday plan to wrap up their tax and bank fraud case against former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, making it likely the case will go to the jury by midweek if the defense decides not to call any witnesses.
The trial is in its 10th day in Alexandria, Virginia, federal court and is not scheduled to resume until Monday afternoon. The case arose from U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Before completing their case, prosecutors will call James Brennan, an executive at the Federal Savings Bank. On Friday, a former salesman at Federal testified that the bank’s chief executive personally approved $16 million in loans to Manafort while seeking Manafort’s help getting a post in President Donald Trump’s cabinet.
The prosecution also wants to recall Paula Liss, an agent with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The defense is seeking to block further questioning of her, and the judge has not yet ruled. Liss testified last week that Manafort did not disclose his foreign bank accounts.
Manafort’s lawyers will then face a choice: call their own witnesses or hope the prosecution’s case is not strong enough to outweigh defense attacks on the credibility of Rick Gates and the testimony of more than two dozen other witnesses.