News, analysis and interviews with politicians and observers. Back in the jury room. So how this all unfolded, just after 11 00 a. M. , the jury did send a note to the court asking the judge, judge, what do we do if we cant come to a unanimous decision on one of the 18 counts. That implies that perhaps they have reached a decision unanimously on the other 17 counts, but they havent said that definitively. What the judge had to do was he had to come up with instructions to give the jury as it pertained to them going back and deliberating yet again. That just happened. In just the past few minutes, the judge instructed the jury, go back into the jury room and continue to work on that one final count. Try to continue to work, to come to some unanimous verdict on that one remaining count. Outside of the presence of the jury, the judge indicated that he might be prepared to accept a partial verdict if they werent able to come to a conclusion on that one remaining count that they seem to have indicated. But the judge, however, did not specifically instruct the jury that hed be willing to accept that partial verdict. Thats important because he doesnt want the jury going back into the jury Deliberation Room saying, okay, well, why try that hard because this judge would, in fact, perhaps accept that partial verdict. This judge wants the jury to know that he is anticipating, hoping for a full verdict here. So again, just a few minutes ago, the jury going back into the Deliberation Room with the instructions from the judge, keep going at it, see if you can, in fact, reach a decision on this one count thats giving you trouble. And john, we dont know what that count is, but these are 18 complicated counts that include tax fraud, bank fraud, as well as issues around foreign bank accounts. So theyve been working on this pretty painstakingly. Its really the first weve heard a substantial question from the jury since thursday. So well see as the time continues to tick forward what this jury will do. John . And jess, have we heard anything specific beyond their curiosity and im sure their
is known as a sawyer charge. He instructed them to try again, to listen to each other, whether or not theres only a couple of them who are stuck on one side of the equation, and to consider changing their vote if that doesnt violate their conscience. He was trying to remind this jury that they had a duty to come to a unanimous decision so long as that didnt violate their conscience. The judge wanted to remind both sides before he brought the jury back that what could happen next. If this jury remains stuck, we dont know how long that might be, we dont know how long hell let them continue, but if they come back and say that they cannot reach a final decision on all of these counts, he told them he would consider obviously accepting a partial verdict. Obviously we dont know which particular counts theyve reached their decision on. We dont know which side of this theyve come down on. So theres still a great deal of mystery for the defense and for the prosecution in this case. Something that just came in from our team at the courthouse. Manaforts attorney asked judge ellis to give the jury a new verdict form after the jury said well need another form please in their tuesday note. Ellis said he would not. Downing said he wished jurors would be given a third option, a Hung Jury Option for each count. Take me inside. If youre the prosecutor or the Defense Lawyers and youre at this stage, what are your options and where are you powerless . Well, i think if youre the prosecutor on this case, it certainly feels like you might be winning on 17 counts because when a jury is sort of on that kind of roll, checking off innocent, innocent, innocent, are they going to stay around and argue about one final count if they think the guy was falsely charged or improperly charged on the first 17 . Usually youd have to say no. On the other hand, if youre finding somebody guilty and they can go to jail under certain counts, youre carefully going
up to the trial, but also during the trial. What goes through your mind, and what information do you have . I think this was much more complicated than any of us had anticipated. It seemed like there was overwhelming evidence. But these are 18 counts, very confusing perhaps at times. Look at this jury note. Theyre probably confused in some ways too. Its clear theyve made a lot of progress. Weve been waiting to hear whats going on for days. We really havent heard where they stand. Now we know. I think when they write a note like if we cannot come to a consensus for a single count, how can we fill in the Verdict Sheet . So clearly maybe they either wanted the judge to take something off the Verdict Sheet. That part is very confusing. I think as paul said, the idea that the judge wouldnt give them a new Verdict Sheet i also think this judge just does not want to meddle in this deliberation. Go back, keep at it, and lets see what happens. He also said in court before he sent them back in, continue to deliberate, and he did tell the
court that he does not intend to take a partial verdict at this point. Lets see what happens. They could come back and maybe he does take a partial verdict. Does not intend to take a partial verdict at this point. Lets step back to a minute for the importance of this case. If youre Robert Mueller the special counsel, these charges have nothing to do with President Trumps 2016 campaign. These charges ahave nothing to o with russian interference in the 2016 election. There was testimony, however, that rick gates remains t cooperating on other matters, number one, and there was testimony that among the misdeeds, the influence peddling, if you will, that Paul Manafort was accused of doing by prosecutors, was including trying to get a job in the Trump Administration from a Bank President with whom he was trying to get a loan. To your point, i think its important to emphasize that while this is Robert Muellers team that is prosecuting this case, this is not directly tied to the questions of russian interference, nor is it tied to the questions of obstruction
weve seen really circling around donald trump. At the same time, the trump team is obviously really closely watching whats going to happen here, in part for trumps political argue, which is that the Mueller Probe as a whole is a political witch hunt, that theres nothing to it. Certainly if manafort were to get off, that would feed into that narrative. If manafort is found guilty, it will lend real credibility to the Mueller Probe, that he was able to put someone who was the campaign chairman, not an insignificant player in trumps world, on trial and get a guilty verdict. A lot of nervousness in the Trump Administration, in the west wing right now as they wait for this verdict. And that nervousness exhibited by the president himself on friday, who did something remarkable. Many people would say reprehensible, when he publicly talked during Jury Deliberations about how he thought this was sad that the government was putting Paul Manafort on trial, that Paul Manafort was a good man, despite the federal government of the same United States saying hes guilty of
saying they want guidance on being hung on one count. Theoretically, they could be having some dissension on other counts too. Paul, one more quick question here. As a former prosecutor, if youre Robert Mueller and you know you have another manafort trial, youre under constant attack by the president of the United States, you have to decide what to do with the papadopoulos sentencing, the Michael Flynn sentencing. You know the other evidence you have or dont have, are still looking for. How important is it to win the first one out of the gate when youre not only in a complicated legal situation but an incredibly complicated political mess . It is very important, john, to win that first one because, you know, mueller has been under constant attack bit president. The president has got a new derogatory nickname for mueller every week. Theres a new one thats added to the list. So his credibility is on the line here, and that is so important in an investigation like this and in trials to come in the future. A lot of times in these really complicated tax cases, paper
cases, the jury, if they trust the prosecutor and believe in the integrity of the prosecutor, when they get to a point where its really too hard for them to understand the law or its difficult to understand what the accountants mean with the charts that have been put up, they rely on the prosecutor and maybe come forward with a jury guilty verdict, as they do, by the way, in 90 of federal cases. So his credibility is really important, and this is the first test, the first public test of his credibility. Going to ask our legal experts to not go terribly far from the camera. Were going to continue to track whats happening in that courthouse in northern virginia. Well bring you the latest as soon as we get any update. Up next, moving on to a somewhat related story. Microsoft uncovers a russian Cyber Campaign to mess, again, with american democracy. Ive seen lots of homes helping new customers bundle and save big, but now its time to find my dream abode. Right away, i could tell his priorities were a little unorthodox. Keep going. Stop. A little bit down. Stop. Back up again. Is this adequate sunlight for a Komodo Dragon . Yeah. Sure, i want that discount on Car Insurance just for owning a home, but im not compromising. Youre taking a shower . Water pressures crucial, scott its like they say location, location, koi pond. They dont say that. The jury still deliberating, but just moments ago sending a note to the judge asking, what do we do if we cannot reach a unanimous consensus on one of the 18 counts. Thats Paul Manaforts attorney outside the courthouse. Well return to the trial as soon as we get new information. Moving on to other top news today, new glaring evidence that Vladimir Putin lied to President Trump and russia is still attacking u. S. Democratic institutions. Microsoft, the software giant, revealing overnight that Russian MilitaryIntelligence Units launched Cyber Attacks targeting conservative think tanks and the United States senate. According to microsoft, hackers for fancy bear, the same group of Cyber Criminals implicated last month by the Russia Special counsel, set up fake websites meant to Entrap Visitors into coughering up pa coughing up passwords and other sensitive information. This is a mirror image of how the russians broke into John Podestas email accounts. The sites identified by microsoft mimicked real ones
used by United StatesSenate Staffers and bore official sounding web addresses. Russian hackers built two other imposter sites, one for the hudson institute, and one for the International Republican institute. Both are conservative groups that have broke within the president , and both have very hawkish views when it comes to russia. Cnns Fred Pleitgen is in moscow for us. Fred, the kremlin response today, i suspect, was deny . Reporter i would say its even more than deny. The kremlin spokesman was in a Conference Call with reporters earlier today, and he didnt just deny these new allegations, he basically said that the russians had absolutely no idea what all of this is about. They say that so far, they believe that not enough information was provided for them to even issue a denial, and they say a lot of the players that are involved in this, they dont even know if these players exist or who they are. I want to read a little bit of the statement that was put forward. He said, quote, our reaction has
already become traditional. We dont know which hackers theyre talking about. We dont know what is meant about the impact on elections. It was interesting because we asked in that same call what about these six websites that were stopped by microsoft . He said, look, i have no idea what fancy bear is or what this has to do with any sort of russian intelligence services, which is interesting because Cybersecurity Experts believe fancy bear is directed by the Russian Military intelligence, by the gru. So the russians certainly issuing a very strong denial and going on further beyond that. Fred pleitgen in moscow. Appreciate that reporting. Ill be waiting to see Vladimir Putin say its a 400pound guy in his basement. Microsofts newly documented evidence of russian meddling puts the president , who has repeatedly questioned russian interference, in a fresh bind. The disconnect between what the president says and what his
intelligence Community Says highlighted again just yesterday. In an interview with reuters, this from the president. Muellers probe played right into the russians. If it was russia. They played right into the russians hands. The key words there from the president of the United States, again, despite all of the evidence, if it was russia. Julie pace is back with us. Also joining the conversation, Jonathan Martin of the new york times. Cnns phil mattingly. If it was russia. The president has been told by everybody on his National SecurityTeam Including most of his appointees, that this is continuing. You have microsoft saying we caught them again, the same People Mueller has indicted. The president says if it was russia. He cant help himself when it comes this. Hes really on an island by himself. The only other person whos continuing this narrative that russia was not involved in this is Vladimir Putin. Everyone else, as you say, even the president s own appointees
in the intelligence community, go to him with evidence saying russia was clearly behind this, you have u. S. Companies combatting this on a daytobda basis. It begs the question, and theres no good answer, why does the president continue to question this . It leads you back to the questions about his ties to russia. Is there a reason why he cant just get over this hurdle, why he cant side with american intelligence . And Fred Pleitgen going through what you would expect from the kremlin. They say what are you talking about, we dont know anything about this, just as Vladimir Putin has said. If you talk to the cyber people, including u. S. Intelligence officials who work for President Trump, they say that russia is getting caught on purpose, that russia is leaving fingerprints. If they wanted to be more clever, if they wanted to be for nefarious that they want were still going this. Were in the game. Were still in the game. This is the president s own director two Administration Officials today testified on capitol hill. This is still going on. Their boss, the man they report to, the director of national
intelligence. This is dan coats last month at the hudson institute, one of the conservative think tanks microsoft said was hacked. In regards to state actions, russia has been the most aggressive foreign actor. No question. They continue their efforts to undermine our democracy. The Warning Signs are there. System is blinking and it is why i believe we are at a critical point. The location more than ironic, but he didnt say if russia did it. He says the lighting are blinking, were at a crisis point. The purpose for russian interference is to create distrust, to create chaos in the political system. And thats exactly what theyre doing. Theyre succeeding in that with Administration Officials like dan coats saying things like that. Then we have the president completely going the other way and saying if russia did it. So you know, Vladimir Putin right now is succeeding, if thats the goal, in terms of creating this chaos weve seen in the last year. I think the interesting bit,
you mentioned the hearing on capitol hill where you had officials from across the spectrum of agencies controlled by President Trump saying without hesitation this is something thats happening, this is something that was happening, and theres no question about it. But the interesting element is there are Policy Ramifications to the president s unwillingness to seemingly embrace this wholeheartedly. You had senators from both parties on capitol hill. The reason the hearings are happening today, theyre considering new sanctions on russia. That would seem to undercut what the president wants to do in terms of bettering the relationship. Perhaps that means easing sanctions. Congress is considering ramping them up. Then you look across the spectrum on the cyber capability side o