Trial of President of the Ex-Trump Campaign, Paul Manafort

(WASHINGTON) – Paul Manafort prepares to enter a federal courtroom Tuesday: Will former Donald Trump campaign president spend the rest of his life in jail? Or will defender Robert Mueller be defeated in the first trial of his team since his appointment more than a year ago?

12 jurors selected this week to answer questions from the Manafort trial on tax evasion and bank fraud at the Alexandria courthouse in Virginia. The panel of jurors will be faced with questions from both sides and US District Judge TS Ellis III is trying to eliminate potential prejudices in what has become a highly publicized and politically divided investigation

This task comes as the president and his spokesman, Rudy Giuliani, are stepping up their attempts to undermine Mueller's investigation into the court of public opinion and as the president continues to wonder if he will sit for a private interview with prosecutors. The president has criticized Mueller by name over the weekend and continues to call the special advocate's investigation into the interference of Russian elections as a "witch hunt" and a "scam." illegal. "

The 2016 presidential election and all Trump attempts to impede justice, none of these topics should appear in the Manafort trial. In fact, prosecutors said last week that they were not expecting the word "Russia" to be mentioned.

Instead, the trial will focus on the Ukrainian consultation work of Manafort and will only touch briefly on his participation in the presidential campaign. 19659002] Prosecutors have lined 35 witnesses and more than 500 pieces of evidence which they claim will show that Manafort earned more than $ 60 million from his Ukrainian work and then concealed a "significant percentage" of the IRS. Prosecutors will also say that Manafort has fraudulently obtained millions more in bank loans, including during his campaign time.

In particular, prosecutors say that they will present evidence that a president of one of the banks allowed Manafort to file inaccurate information on the loan. the exchange for a role on the Republican campaign and the promise of a job in the Trump administration that never materialized.

At the center of all this will be another Trump campaign badistant, Rick Gates, who has spent years working for Manafort in Ukraine and is also accused of helping him to falsify the paperwork used to obtain bank loans. . Gates, who signed an advocacy deal with Mueller earlier this year, is expected to testify against his former mentor.

Gates should also play a key role in the second Manafort trial scheduled for September. This trial, which is taking place in the District of Columbia, involves allegations that the long-time political advisor would have acted as an unregistered foreign agent for Ukrainian interests and made false statements to the US government.

Manafort is the only American to opt for

The 31 others charged either plead guilty or are Russians considered unlikely to enter an American courtroom. Three Russian companies were also accused. One of these companies has pleaded not guilty and is fighting the charges in federal court in Washington.