FBI describes early-morning raid of Paul Manafort’s condo

The FBI on Wednesday described the details of the early-morning raid on former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s Alexandria condo on the second day of Manafort’s trial.

FBI special agent Matthew Mikuska, an 11-year veteran of the bureau, testified in court in Alexandria, Va., saying he was the seizing agent for the government’s search last year. Mikuska told the jury agents knocked three times on Manafort’s door, but used a key to gain access after receiving no answer. Once inside, agents saw Manafort. Mikuska said he did not know how the FBI obtained the key. Their warrant to search the apartment, Mikuska said, was not a “no-knock” warrant. Mikuska described the apartment as “luxury” and spanning more than 2,000 square feet, with three bedrooms, an office, and large closet spaces.

Uzo Asonye of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia questioned Mikuska about the trove of documents they seized during the search. Documents the government obtained include loan agreements, loan applications, and invoices for work on several properties along the East Coast that Manafort owns. One draft invoice was for $115,000 in upgrades for a property in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., while another was for $49,000 from a home improvement company for work to be done on a house in Bridgehampton, N.Y.

Judge T. S. Ellis III challenged prosecutors over how the draft invoices and documents tied to the charges against Manafort. At the start of the second day of Manafort’s trial, Ellis also took issue with the use of the term “oligarch” to describe the various Ukrainians who paid Manafort for his work there. Ellis said the term is typically used to describe members of despotic regimes. But under the prosecution's use of the term in court, Ellis said George Soros and Charles or David Koch would both be described as oligarchs – people who have a lot of money. "We're not going to have a case tried that he associated with despicable people and, therefore, he's despicable," the judge said regarding Manafort. "That's not the American way." Ellis urged lawyers for both sides to avoid using the term and instead told them to say “he financed it.”

But prosecutor Greg Andres noted that the term "oligarch" is not used to describe American businessmen. "Ukrainian businessmen are referred to as oligarchs," he said. "Those are the facts." Federal prosecutors were told to prepare a brief on the issue of the term "oligarch."

The government argues Manafort was paid $60 million from Ukrainian oligarchs for work for former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions. Manafort faces 18 counts of tax and bank fraud. His trial started Tuesday and is the first stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. In addition to Mikuska, the jury also heard from Daniel Rabin, who was hired by Manafort to make television advertisements for Yanukovych's presidential campaign. Rabin described Manafort as someone who "demanded a lot of the people who worked for him." "Paul was thorough. He was strategic. He always worked for the best of the campaign," he said.

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