Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team was one holdout juror away from winning a conviction against Paul Manafort on all 18 counts of bank and tax fraud, juror Paula Duncan told Fox News in an exclusive interview Wednesday.
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Duncan described herself as an avid supporter of President Trump, but said she was moved by four full boxes of exhibits provided by Mueller’s team – though she was skeptical about prosecutors’ motives in the financial crimes case.
“Certainly Mr. Manafort got caught breaking the law, but he wouldn’t have gotten caught if they weren’t after President Trump,” Duncan said of the special counsel’s case, which she separately described as a “witch hunt to try to find Russian collusion,” borrowing a phrase Trump has used in tweets more than 100 times.
“Something that went through my mind is, this should have been a tax audit,” Duncan said, sympathizing with the foundation of the Manafort defense team’s argument. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Paul Manafort faces a maximum of 80 years in prison for his conviction Tuesday on eight charges of bank and tax fraud.
President Trump’s onetime campaign chairman was found guilty on five counts of filing false income tax returns, one count of failing to report foreign bank and financial accounts, and two counts of bank fraud.
Manafort faces a maximum of 15 years in prison for the tax fraud charges, a maximum of five years for the one charge of failing to report a foreign bank or financial account, and up to 60 years for the two bank fraud charges, which each carry a maximum sentence of up to 30 years.
Federal prosecutors said in a February court filing, however, that Manafort will likely only get eight to 10 years for the tax fraud charges, based on the federal sentencing guidelines, which are advisory. – READ MORE