Posted on 08/10/2018 9:15:24 AM PDT by Repealthe17thAmendment
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The Latest on the bank fraud and tax evasion trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort (all times local): 10:50 a.m. The judge in Paul Manafort's trial has called a recess without explanation. U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis lll huddled with attorneys from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office and Manafort's defense lawyers, as well as court security officers, for more than 20 minutes before calling the recess. The judge then exited the courtroom toward the jury room. The recess comes as prosecutors are preparing to finish their case Friday. Manafort faces charges of bank fraud and tax evasion.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
In this case the bank was not defrauded, they have no monetary damages because they didn’t make the loan.
Suppose Manafort told the bank he made $10M when he really only made $5M. The IRS can’t tax him on $10M, only on what he actually made. If Manafort filed a tax return only reporting $2M Muller should show evidence of that. So far he has not shown any such evidence.
If that’s the case, then Mueller’s goons are even more stupid than I thought. Judge Ellis is the last guy you’d want to piss off. He’s been on the federal bench for 30 years; I’m sure he’s dealt with threats before. If the special counsel has folks trying something that heavy-handed, they better be prepared for Judge Ellis to toss everything, and go after some of Mueller’s prosecutors.
Rumor is a juror misconduct issue.
Did Mueller take them out to Dinner and Dancing again
He is going to dismiss the charges.
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Perhaps. My guess is that a critical point of procedure or law is disputed and they have to submit opposing briefs.
Does a mistrial help or hurt the prosecution? I think it generally would help the defendant, especially at this point since the prosecution is the only side to have presented a case.
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It can help, but usually the government can still bring the case. It is expensive, and weak, but a prosecutor who is determined, malicious, or both can keep on bringing the case. It is a humiliation but not a defeat, and the defendant citizen is ground under the weight of government resources that cannot be matched.
There is zero sense of proportion with these cheap imitation Berias, so it would just set it up for another round.
Intent to defraud is just as criminal as fraud is. If someone pointed a gun at you, demanded you give them your money, but fled before you could do so then would you say that since you weren't robbed then there was no crime?
Suppose Manafort told the bank he made $10M when he really only made $5M. The IRS can’t tax him on $10M, only on what he actually made. If Manafort filed a tax return only reporting $2M Muller should show evidence of that. So far he has not shown any such evidence.
Among other things, Manafort filed tax returns that stated he had no foreign bank accounts when it's been shown he had dozens. That's tax fraud right there.
Just another case of a horse’s head found under the blankets...
I disagree.
There has to be a harm caused for their to be a crime.
A disapproved loan caused no harm.
FBI just threatened judge... “You know, if we can frame the president, we can certainly frame you. Think about it.”
If he does do that, I sincerely hope he has the balls to do it WITH PREJUDICE....which means they can never bring Manafort back to court on these charges. IT WILL BE DONE.
Mueller will have been beaten.
It appears that some left wing media types tried to get to the jury.
I thought that team Mueller did not want to give the defense some evidence that they wish to keep classified. Did I hear that wrong?
The judge will order the vacating of all charges.
I just heard on FB through a reliable source that there is a motion for Flynn to change his plea to not guilty.
Will we ever see the identities of the jury to find out if the jury was stacked with liberals or anti-trumpers?
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