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So the Manafort trial is over and awaits the jury verdict. Yesterday the Manafort defense rested without calling a single witness.
“The prosecution rested on Monday, and today the defense rested, and Manafort will not take the stand. The courtroom was sealed for nearly two hours this morning, then reopened at about 11:30 a.m. with Manafort coming in 10 minutes later. The reason for the sealed court was not disclosed.”
What we learned on Day 11:
• Manafort’s defense team chose to present no witnesses and not put Manafort on the stand.
So one thing we learned is that Manafort’s lawyers know his testifying would do him a lot more harm than good. We learned a few other very interesting things.
• Manafort sent an email to Jared Kushner recommending his banker for Secretary of the Army.
Note this was after the election and long after Manafort was fired for his incriminating ties to Konstantin Kilimnik his man in Kiev.
It was also over six months after Manafort and Kushner along with Donald Jr attended the Trump Tower meeting on June, 9 of 2016 with the Kremlin linked lawyer.
On the other hand the Manafort defense has a great justification for Manafort’s misstatements on his application:
• Manafort’s defense argued that he would have received $16 million in loans from that banker regardless of any misstatements on his loan application
Gee-so why put those misstatements on in the first place then? As it happened Manafort never did pay back the loan. Do you think they would have made the loan even if they had the prescience to know he wouldn’t pay it back?
That email chain between Manafort and Kushner, however, is a thing of beauty:
“One of the exhibits released by prosecutors late Monday was an email from Paul Manafort to President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in November 2016 during Trump’s transition period. It recommends Federal Savings Bank chief executive officer Stephen Calk for the job of Secretary of the Army, which Calk had listed in an email to Manafort as his sixth-most preferred job. Calk’s bank had recently approved Manafort for $16 million in loans despite internal questions about his finances”
Kushner’s response: ‘I’m on it.’
“Jared Kushner — and a two-word email he authored in response to Paul Manafort on help getting a banker a job in the new administration — are now part of the body of evidence federal prosecutors have built in their case against the former Trump campaign chairman.”
Interesting-this case was supposed to have nothing to do with Trump and yet he comes up again and this time, for the first time, Jared’s name comes up:
“The invocation of Kushner’s name is the first time the president’s son-in-law has come up during Manafort’s trial in Alexandria, Virginia, for multiple financial crimes, including charges of bank and tax fraud.”
“Manafort awaits a separate trial in Washington, D.C, scheduled to begin in September.”
“According to a new exhibit submitted into evidence on Monday, Manafort — who resigned from his role as chairman of the Trump campaign months earlier — emailed Kushner on Nov. 30, 2016, with three recommendations for senior administration positions in then-President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.”
And even though he’d left the campaign in disgrace-accused of being a compromised Russian asset-his request to get his banker buddy who gave him a huge $16 million dollar loan he should not have gotten is instantly fulfilled.
“Among the potential candidates was Federal Savings Bank founder and CEO Stephen Calk, who Manafort primarily endorsed as a candidate for Secretary of the Army.”
Kushner replied “On it!” within hours, according to the emails.
“James Brennan, a vice president at the Federal Savings Bank, testified earlier this week that around the time the email was sent, Manafort secured $16 million in loans from the Federal Savings Bank, even though he says Calk knew Manafort was lying about his finances.”
“The loan closed because Mr. Calk wanted it to close,” Brennan said on Monday.
“Brennan also testified that he rated Manafort’s loan application a “4,” the highest level of risk the bank would consider because he was under pressure from Calk to keep his assessment in an acceptable range.”
Yet it’s the defense’s position that even without Calk’s greasing the skids for him he’d have gotten approved even with a 4-and even though this system of apportioning risk turned out to be spot on as Manafort didn’t repay the $16 million.
“Calk was an active supporter of the campaign since April,” Manafort wrote in his 2016 email to Kushner. “His background is strong in defense issues, management, and finance.”
“Manafort also noted Calk’s past role as an economic adviser to the Trump campaign and prior television appearances.”
“None of the people Manafort suggested in that email were ultimately hired to work in the Trump administration.”
“Prosecutors did not suggest that Kushner was aware of any financial ties linking Manafort and Calk, or that the Trump administration actively considered any of Manafort’s suggestions.”
Is there any reason to think that would have made a difference?
“Kushner has met twice with special counsel prosecutors as part of Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling during the 2016 campaign, a source familiar with the meetings confirmed to ABC News earlier this year. The source added that, in the two times Kushner has met with investigators, it was in the role of witness – not as a target.”
This is the gang that says everybody colludes with foreign government given the opportunity. If that’s the case why would you stop with a political favor to a friend who has another friend who gave him a bad loan?