Manafort trial: No verdict from jury who will return next week

He faces several counts of tax evasion and bank fraud in the first trial related to the FBI's Russia investigation

Manafort Trial Turns from Prosecution to Defense as Manafort's wife and attorneys arrive

The jury in the trial of Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort have finished the second day of deliberations with no verdict as Robert Mueller and the prosecution prepare for his next trial in Washington DC.

Mr Mueller's team reportedly has more than 1,000 pieces of evidence in the next trial but in the meantime, the jury in the Alexandria, Virginia federal courthouse had sent Judge TS Ellis four questions for review ahead of their second day.

Among them was a request for the judge to define what "reasonable doubt" in this particular case means.

Legal experts say the jury asking to define this points to the possibility that at least one juror may feel the prosecution did not meet its burden of proof.

The jury also asked Mr Ellis for guidance on the regulations regarding when someone must disclose a foreign bank account to the US Treasury Department and whether the exhibit list could be amended so the jury could see which pieces of evidence corresponded which counts.

The six men and women also asked the judge to clarify the definition of a "shelf company," which is an inactive company often sold to people aiming to bypass the registration process.

Mr Manafort faces five counts of filing false tax returns, four counts of failing to disclose his offshore bank accounts, and nine counts of bank fraud today, as the trial carries over into next week.

The former foreign political agent's next trial to take place in the US District Court in Washington DC also includes charges of witness tampering.

Mr Mueller alleged Mr Manafort "repeatedly" contacted two witnesses in an effort to sway their testimony, court documents stated.

The longtime political operative was under house arrest at the time of the suspected contact and as a result, Mr Mueller asked federal judge Amy Berman Jackson to "promptly" reconsider Mr Manafort’s release. She did and Mr Manafort has been in jail ever since the 5 June charge.

FBI Special Agent Brock Domin, in a declaration filed with Mr Mueller’s motion, said Mr Manafort had attempted to call, text, and send encrypted messages in February 2018 to two people from The Hapsburg Group, a firm he had worked with in the past when promoting the interests of Ukraine in the US.

Agents have recovered telephone and text records from Mr Manafort’s iCloud account as evidence of his contact with the two individuals, Mr Domin said.

Follow the latest updates in the trial below

Key Points

• This is the second day of deliberations for the jury after sending the judge four questions 
• The defence's strategy was to attack Mr Manafort's longtime business partner and campaign deputy Rick Gates 
• Mr Manafort's next trial involves more charges of fraud, but also counts on witness intimidation and matters related to his work for Ukrainian politicians

[17 August 2018 19:38 · Mythili Sampathkumar]

Mr Ellis said though he is “no stranger to criticism, this case has brought it to a new level.”

Rejecting the motion to disclose juror identities - filed by media outlets Associated Press, BuzzFeed News, the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC, and Politico - Mr Ellis noted releasing the information made him uneasy because “to do so would create a risk of harm to them.”

[17 August 2018 19:57 · Mythili Sampathkumar]

The jury has just sent a note to Mr Ellis indicating they would like to finish their work at 5pm EST today.

[17 August 2018 21:08 · Steve Anderson]

It appears increasingly unlikely that we will get a verdict today - with the jurors set to come back on Monday if they are released at the time they want.

[17 August 2018 22:03 · Mythili Sampathkumar]

The jury is finished for the day and Judge TS Ellis has said deliberations will continue beginning 9:30am on Monday 20 August. 

Thank you for following along on this second day of deliberations. As always, we'll have all the updates about Paul Manafort's trial as they happen so come back to independent.co.uk/us for more.