Paul Manafort is no longer bothering to try to drag out his trial. Here’s why.
In the buildup to today’s kickoff of the Paul Manafort trial, we saw Manafort and his lawyers use one tactic after another to try to delay its start date. But yesterday Manafort dropped his longstanding appeal aimed at getting Robert Mueller thrown off the case, and as the trial got underway today, he and his attorneys made no effort to slow down or drag out the proceedings. There’s a reason for this. Actually there are two.
The first is pretty straightforward. If Paul Manafort were still out on bail right now, he might be tempted to drag out his trial as long as possible, knowing he’d likely end up behind bars once it’s over. Manafort is already behind bars. But keep in mind that even if he’s acquitted in this trial, which is extraordinarily unlikely given the mountain of evidence and witnesses against him, he’ll still remain locked up as his second federal trial plays out this fall. Which is why there’s more to it.
Manafort’s second reason for wanting to hurry up and get this trial over with is that it’ll inform him on what move to make next. In the unlikely event he’s acquitted, it’ll give him newfound leverage heading to his second trial, where he’s facing a different set of federal criminal charges. If he’s convicted, his prison sentence will likely encompass the rest of his natural life, meaning that he’ll be screwed no matter how the second trial goes. That would be the point at which he would logically cut a plea deal.
One thing to keep in mind: if Paul Manafort does end up cutting a plea deal at any point, he’ll still end up with a multi-year prison sentence which will take up much of the rest of his life. But in such case he’d be moved from his current jail to a federal prison, where the conditions would be far less harsh. So in that sense, Manafort has motivation to hurry up and get this first trial over with. He needs to know the verdict, so he can make decisions about the rest of his life. Palmer Report has spoken with legal experts who believe that the verdict could arrive in this trial within a month.
