The trial now underway in Alexandria, Virginia, is the first case brought by U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller to go to trial. But prosecutors lacked venue to bring the tax and bank-fraud charges against Manafort anywhere but Virginia, where Manafort owns a home. In a pretrial hearing, he speculated that prosecutors only decided to bring charges against Manafort to pressure him to “sing” against Trump. During the trial, prosecutors have been frustrated by comments Ellis has made in front of the jury about the evidence and his frequent exhortations to move the three-week trial along at a quicker pace. In the D.C. trial, Manafort may face an even taller stack of evidence.

Source: thestar August 18, 2018 14:03 UTC