Page 28 - Tad Devine News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Called, what does it tell you about how this trial is going to proceed? >> it's going to be two weeks rather than three weeks. i just have no doubt this trial will go faster than expected. that's how it always works in the eastern district of virginia. and it's a place where prosecutors win almost all the time. it is known as a very pro-prosecution jurisdiction, and given the facts of this case, i think manafort is just in a world of trouble. >> but jeff, the judges want prosecutors the steer clear of anything russia-related. is that -- i mean, is it the elephant in the room there for the juro...

Anything russia-related. that -- is it the elephant in the room there for the jurors? or can they do that? >> i have a lot of confidence in jurors in matters like this. the real problem for paul manafort here is there doesn't appear to be any evidence that he paid his taxes. i mean, he got all this money. it was stashed in these foreign bank accounts, and the taxes weren't paid. now like most people who are accused of a crime with a cooperating witness, he's going try to put all the blame on the cooperating witness that is a standard strategy. it rarely works. but it sometimes does. and but it...

It rarely works, but it sometimes does. and -- you know, but it's just going to be difficult to persuade the jury that somehow rick gates is responsible for the fact that paul manafort made millions upon millions of dollars and didn't pay his taxes. >> jennifer, do you agree that that defense strategy, trying to pin it all on rick gates, who is a cooperating witness, that's basically the kind of defense 101? >> it is. it is exactly. the problem here is that rick gates, of course, was not cooperating until after the charges were filed. so, they were prepared to proceed with this case without ri...

So he's got a really bad card to play, yet he is still playing it. it all begs the question, why. why is he not trying to get some bigger deal done with robert mueller's team. and i don't know if there are great answer to this other than he is waiting for potentially a pardon down the road. >> and josh, we've already had the first strange bedfellow in the first witness. tad devine, he of the liberal left, he of the kerry campaign, the bernie sanders campaign, what was he doing testifying in this trial today? >> well, he was brought in because he actually worked alongside manafort. you know, it...

Their way to keep trump out of the trial. abc news reports that prosecutors have been coaching their witnesses not to mention trump's name or even that manafort lives in trump tower. the judge in the case has warned that bringing up manafort's ties to trump could unduly influence jurors. there is at least one thing about this trial that is important to the relationship between paul manafort and donald trump. the first witness today was tad devine, chief strategist for bernie sanders' an presidential campaign who worked with manafort on political campaigns in ukraine. the prosecution called him...