Manafort jury asks for guidance

UPDATE: The jury in the Paul Manafort case has found President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman guilty of eight of 18 criminal counts. In a note to U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, jurors said they had not reached consensus on the 10 remaining counts, and Ellis declared a mistrial on those counts. Manafort’s conviction includes five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud, and one count of failing to file foreign bank account reports. The jury deliberated for four days before announcing their verdict.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (2:23 p.m.): The jury in the financial fraud trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort asked the judge Tuesday what to do if it could not reach a verdict on a single count in the case. Manafort faces 18 felony counts of tax evasion and bank fraud stemming from payments he received for advising Russia-backed politicians in Ukraine. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III read a formal instruction that encouraged the jurors, now in their fourth day of deliberations, to continue until they reached a unanimous consensus. Ellis said he was not yet prepared to ask the jury where they stood, but if they cannot reach an agreement on a single count after continued deliberation, he will have to decide whether to accept a partial verdict. Manafort’s trial is the first to arise from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, but the alleged crimes happened before Manafort served as Trump’s campaign chairman.