Iâm surprised Ellis didnât chime in with, âWell, lying isnât a crime any more than having nice clothes and being rich.â
Let the jury deliberations BEGIN!!!
I think we may have a verdict by the end of week, perhaps by Friday?
In closing statements the defense will try to pin the whole thing on Rick Gates. Weak strategy but they donât have much to work with. Hoping we have a verdict by Friday.
âMr. Manafort lied to keep more money when he had itâ
I dunno, who among us, in our heart of hearts, wouldnât lie to keep more money? The problem is that he lied to get more money. I hope the prosecution also put that out there and that Caitlin (whoâs been doing an awesome job on this trial) chose an unrepresentative quote.
When the conviction comes through ,I want the flop sweat towel concession at the White House.
There are going to be a lot of nervous people
There are 27 counts and the jury will have to vote on each one separately. If they do have a verdict by Friday, it will be bad news for Manafort.
Man, itâs probably going to take until Friday to get the jury instructions with 27 counts.
The thing being that when these fuckers get so fabulously rich , they canât imagine of living any other way, while the rest of us would take 1/10th of it and retire comfortably to a happy existence.
Greed breeds more greed
People donât like to pay taxes, BUT people really resent unfairness. The average Joe gets a W-2 form and canât hide from it. People like Manafort deliberately did not report income in order to save millions of dollars. Wage slaves who canât evade income reporting donât like that at all. In fact, Manfortâs (and Gatesâ) behavior is quite an emblem of âswampinessâ.
Nice point.
âLying to keep more money when he had itâ = tax evasion. I dunno about you, but I feel like thatâs also kind of a problem. This motherfucker was rolling in dirty money and still skipping out on paying his share because only the little people chip in to pay for F-35s.
Yeah. Those of us who pay our taxes tend to agree.
Sometimes itâs painful but it is what you do as an American.
While a solid argument, I would have made it an hour or shorter, and saved up more time to savage the defense closing in rebuttal.
Exactly
I get nailed with 20 percent . I donât get a choice
18, no?
Prosecutors zeroed in on the loan fraud charges against Manafort, who faces 18 total counts of tax evasion and bank fraud and a maximum 305-year prison sentenceâŚ
https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/3-takeaways-day-8-paul-manafort-trial
If jury instructions finish today, I could see the jury coming back in the morning with Manny guilty on most counts. Where is there any reasonable doubt? Certainly not âthe bank approved it anyway, so not Manafortâs crimeâ defense? It doesnât change the fact of Manafortâs fraudulent intentâŚ
I think heâs going down. Is it possible to flip and plea down harsher sentencing? Because if he doesnât, this case was so clean cut, I canât imagine the next one is going to fare any better⌠He could be facing the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison. And if Trump pardons him âjust becauseâ, notwithstanding all the clear evidence of crimes committed, Donny probably wouldnât be looking at a safe re-election.
Interesting timesâŚ
race to the finish line today:
Itâs right there in the article:
". . . and lied to get more money when he didnât,â Andres told the jury.
I donât care if they only find him guilty of one count, just so long as he gets the full 305-year maximum prison sentence. As far as I can tell, thatâs the real problem with our judicial system. The privileged few who commit white collar crimes, who are found guilty of wrongdoing, rarely have to pay any real price for breaking the law. When they are prosecuted and found guilty, its usually Club Fed with tennis courts and a private kitchenette attached to their cell for a few months or years out of their miserable, no-good, very bad lives.