Paul Manafort Goes to Trial

     Today marks the second day of the jury trial for former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.  The former White House insider is now being prosecuted for a variety of crimes related to some of his international consulting business, primarily that business related to Ukraine and the leaders there of.
The government states that Mr. Manafort attempted to evade income taxes on 10's of milions of fees he collected as part of his income.  He did this by buying real estate in the US with loans secured by other properties that were appraised at inflated amounts.
     The defense says that his accounting for these dollars is correct and that he paid the requisite taxes on his earned income.   He has been in jail for some time prior to the trial as a flight risk.  The trial will take another 3-4 weeks.   This trial is only the first and no doubt he will have to answer for more perceived crimes related to his serving Donald Trump during his campaign for president in 2016.   When in Ukraine, he served in a capacity as media consultant to the then president who was ousted soon after when citizens demanded that he resign.
     Mr. Manafort is also a subject of investigation by Robert Mueller, the special investigator appointed by Asst. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.  This is not the first trial put forward by Justice Dept., nor will it be the last.