Manafort lawyers rest case without calling witnesses

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s defense rested its case Tuesday without calling any witnesses. Manafort chose not to testify in his trial on tax evasion and fraud charges. He is accused of hiding millions of dollars in income he received advising Ukrainian politicians. The defense has tried to blame Manafort’s former assistant, Richard Gates, who testified for the prosecution and admitted to embezzling money from his boss. The jury could hear closing arguments this week. Although the case represents the first trial arising from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the charges stem from Manafort’s business dealings years before he joined Donald Trump’s campaign in April 2016. Trump named Manafort chairman of his campaign a month later but fired him a month after that.