campaign chairman paul manafort is on trial today. the trial is the first criminal trial in the mueller investigation. it will offer the public a glimpse at the evidence gathered against man fauafort and could serve to squeeze on manafort to cooperate on the broader investigation into russian collusion with the trump campaign. "the subtext whether he knew about russian efforts to influence the election and whether the threat of conviction could lead him to cooperate with special counsel robert mueller weighs not just on the prosecution and the defense, but on the white house, as well." among the americans charge sod far by prosecutors, mr. manafort not only held the highest position in the campaign, but arguably has the deepest connections to russian political forces. then manafort trial commences on the same day that president trump is changing his tune on the question of russian collusion, to the message first trotted out by allies that collusion in and of itself is not a crime. and at this hour, the manafort trial, opening statemen

e-mail to paul manafort. read steve calk professional bio. at that point he's probably calling him mr. secretary. now today many court the judge in the manafort case started to show us the substance behind these allegations that thus far have mostly been spelled out in the press. first of all, the judge unsealed the fact not just one but two employees of this little bank in chicago have been granted immunity in exchange for their testimony as witnesses for the prosecution. we knew heading into faye there were five witnesses who are all basically pleading the fifth. they are all saying they wouldn't testify to avoid incriminating themselves. the prosecutors got permission from a very senior official at the criminal division to grant those five witnesses limited immunity. use immunity. so their testimony can be compelled. they can be forced to testify and their testimony can't be used against them as long as they don't lie in court. the judge today accepted all of those immunity deals for all five of those witnesses, but then surprise, the judge

each side gave a 30-minute opening statement with the special counsel's team calling paul manafort a liar and saying he placed himself and his money above the law. meanwhile, his defense team strategy was focused on shifting the blame to not only the people manafort worked with but also the russian oligarchs he worked for. tonight, prosecutors are off to a fiery start in their case against paul manafort, calling him a shrewd liar who orchestrated a global scheme to avoid paying taxes on millions of dollars. lawyers for the special counsel told the jury manafort earned millions in secret income from the, quote, cash spigot that came from working for the, quote, golden goose in ukraine. former pro-putin president viktor yanukovych. but manafort's lawyers pushed back, blaming it on the russian oligarchs who manafort worked for, saying they required him to pay through secret bank accounts. as the defense team arrived, they remained resolute. >> any chance he may decide to flip and cooperate? >> no chance. >> paul manafort faced the six men and six women jury who will decide whether he cou

paul manafort is not a veteran. not only did he get that loan from that chicago bank in doesn't 2016, the following month he got two more multimillion loans from the same bank for a total of $16 million in cash from the one bank that specializes in lending to veterans. the "wall street journal" was first to report on these odd transactions between manafort and this chicago bank including the fact that the holding company was set up on the day that manafort left the campaign. the loans to paul manafort was hugely outsized compared to the resources of that bank. that $16 million that the bank handed over to paul manafort over a few weeks between december 2016 and january 2017, the loans represented nearly a quarter of all the loanable assets for that little bank. in february 2018, nbc news reported that robert mueller's office, special counsel's office was looking into those loans to paul manafort in the transition and somewhat ominously for paul manafort and the bank, in, about, c repothey learned that were questiona

paul manafort worked for me for a very short period of time. he worked for ronald reagan, john mccain or his firm did, he worked for many other republicans. he worked for me for 49 days or something. a very short period of time. >> still, he was the campaign chairman. his closest aides and attorneys are clearly trying to do the same, which is create as much distance as possible. >> this trial obviously centers on matters that have nothing to do with the campaign. i think even mr. manafort as i read it requested there be in mention of his brief tenure at the trump campaign several years ago. this has nothing to do with collusion, russia, nothing to do with the campaign. >> paul manafort does not know anything, nor could it be possible that he did. he was with him for four months. >> this morning, no comment from the president on paul manafort. he has got the russia investigation on his brain. well, with a tweet. collusion is not a crime, but that doesn't matter because there was no collusion. let's not get ahead of ourselves. the president's cam

in the first big court test for special counsel robert mueller, former campaign chairman paul manafort goes on trial accused by prosecutors of hiding millions in secret income from taxes. could manafort turn on president trump to avoid spending the rest of his life in prison? >>> russia attacking again? facebook shuts down dozens of pages that it says may have been tied to russians spreading disinformation ahead of the mid term elections. is the kremlin once again targeting u.s. voters? >>> saving general kelly. white house chief of staff john kelly announces that president trump has asked him to stay on until at least 2020. the retired general has been fighting rumors of an imminent departure almost since he took the job. is that job now safe? >>> and kim's new missiles, a new report warns north korea may be building new long range missiles that could pose a risk to the united states. just weeks after president trump pronounced that north korea is no longer a nuclear threat. i'm wolf blitzer, you are in "the situation room" on. . >>> breaking news, the first trial in the mueller inves

you know, there is no basis to it. >> paul manafort has done a fantastic job. of paul's people. paul brought on the staff. and we really do. we have a great staff of talented people. >> donald trump also said that paul manafort, to the best of his knowledge, had nothing to do with russia. and he said i have nothing to do with russia. and then donald trump said about paul manafort, i think he represented ukraine or people having to do with ukraine or people that whoever. and harry, it turns out that paul manafort, who donald trump has known for a very long time in ways that we do not yet know, had obviously a criminal relationship going on in the ukraine. >> yeah, that's right. so your first point is, sally and lawrence, they were sort of priva privateers together in 2005 through 2016 out there. we should distinguish what manafort knows and what the case is about. the case doesn't concern the russia connection to the campaign except in one particular, which i'll get to in a minute. but manafort surely knows quite a bit. he's at the center of the efforts to change

worked with paul manafort for a very long time. so there's a lot more that we don't, that may be fine but i don't know if he just worked with him on the stuff and he was in the room when don jr. was saying i got an email from a kremlin lawyer. >> lawrence: i think that's speculation and americans are getting tired of it. >> harris: president trump is warning lawmakers again that he is willing to shut down the government if lawmakers want step up for funding with the wall and border security so will it shutdown happen and how the fight affect the midterms? plus controversy across the country as some mayors are siding with apologize protesters over law enforcement. whether that is a good move or if they will face backlash, we debate. high protein to help get us moving. and help you feel more strength & energy in just 2 weeks. i'll take that. ensure high protein, with 16 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. ensure® tap one little bumper and up go your rates. with 16 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. what good is your insurance

and i would say what paul manafort did very well was run the convention. paul played a very large role and was brought in as the president states to quell this uprising amongst the delegates. we were very concerned at the convention there was going to be a floor fight for the actual nomination. >> they kept telling us it was hopeless. but actually you guys were worried. >> i want to play sound for you, this is kellyanne conway and rudy giuliani both kind of down playing this case. i want to get your reaction. >> this has nothing to do with collusion, russia. >> paul manafort does not know anything, nor could it be possible that he did. he was with him for four honesties. i was there when paul manafort was there. he was a brilliant gatherer ofties. i was there when paul manafort was there. he was a brilliant gatherer of -- >> pretty important role. >> and mayor giuliani said the same thing about cohen, so we should be very suspicious when he says didn't know anything and up comes the tapes. the president has some type of relationship with manafort for about

paul manafort filed a hopeless appeal to that decision.ppeal and dropped that case entirely. today in a filing in the criminal case that will be heard in federal court in virginia, prosecutors say they can prove the former trump campaign chairman is guilty of tax and bank fraud. they say they can move that he earned more than $60 million working as a consultant on behalf of a russia backed ukrainian political party and hid the money in offshore bank accounts. "the new york times" reports that prosecutors claim that beginning in $2006 he did millions of in income that he received from the ukrainian government and the ukrainian oligarchs to promote a pro-russian leader when he fled to russia after a popular uprising in 2014. the funds dried up. they charged that mr. manafort resorted to bank fraud to maintain his lifestyle. >> rudy giuliani said this poses absolutely no threat to the information. >> he has no information incriminating of the president. i know that for a fact. they can squeeze him. paul manafort does not know anything. nor co

breaking news, a shrewd leader, how president trump's lawyers are painting paul manafort. a jury of six men and six women listening as heweller's team outlined its case describing manafort as a con artist who ran a global scheme to avoid paying millions in taxes. prosecutors say manafort made $60 million in ukraine and that he didn't report to it the irs. they say he had 30 bank accounts in just three foreign countries which he used in part to store untaxed income to spend on luxury goods like range rovers, a watch costing $21,000, a $15,000 custom made ostrich jacket. who doesn't need one of those, right? the defense hitting back saying manafort is the victim that he was taken advantage of by the man he trusted most rick gates, his right hand man in ukraine and his deputy in the trump campaign. the many of the strategy, blame it all on gates, the man who lived in against his long time boss, the man the government describes as the government's star witness. evan is live in virginia. you were there for the opening statements, the first witness. what happened? >> erin was a d

. >>> paul manafort's trial begins today. a lot riding on the case against the president's one-time campaign chief. >>> and the carr fire in california now chewing up over 100,000 acres. 19 people remain missing in one of the most destructive fires in state history. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm laura jarrett. >> good morning. i'm dave briggs. july 31st. 4:00 a.m. in east. 100 degrees in redding, california as it will be in the next five days. an update on the fire straight ahead. >>> new signs that north korea could be building more missiles. "the washington post" reporting that satellite images show work is under way on the intercontinental ballistic missile in the suburb of pyongyang. if true, the work of the icbms would be a serious blow to the diplomatic efforts between president trump and kim jong-un. for the latest, let's bring in paula hancocks in seoul. what does this latest development mean? >> reporter: dave, even at that time, i think many thought that tweet was slightly premature. what we hear from

jury selection in former trump campaign chairman paul manafort's federal financial fraud trial begins tomorrow morning in northern virginia. manafort is accused of hiding at least $30 million in offshore accounts to avoid paying u.s. taxes. we should note manafort has pleaded not guilty to all these charges. our nbc news justice correspondent pete williams points out if manafort is convicted, prosecutors would have powerful leverage for attempting to compel his testimony before a grand jury about whether he knows of any improper dealings between the trump campaign and the russians. the trial itself is not expected to shed any light on russia's meddling. meanwhile, president trump's attorney, rudy giuliani who we might have mentioned in the previous segment, said today he is sure manafort has nothing on president trump. >> he has no information incriminating of the president. i know that for a fact. they can squeeze him, paul manafort does not know anything nor could it possible he did. he was with him for four months. i was there when paul manafort was there. paul manafort was a brill

paul manafort's legal team said, no, actually, we don't want to do this. the judge called surprising and confusing. one of the reasons manafort's team gave was paul manafort's security. now, the judge apparently is not buying this explanation. here's what the judge had to say about that. the professionals at the alexandria detention center are very familiar with housing high-profile defendants, including foreign and domestic terrorists, spies and traitors. all of those defendants were housed safely there alexandria pending their respective trials at the alexandria detention center will presumably be no different. so you see the judge making the move to move paul manafort whether he wants it or not. >> cnn has learned that paul manafort believes he was being treated like a vip. what can you tell us about his time in jail so far? >> that's right. this is what comes from a new filing from mueller's team, essentially saying, look, they can monitor paul manafort's calls while he's in jail. he apparently told one of his associates he feels like he's being treated

he hired paul manafort to run his presidential campaign in march 2016. prior to his work on the trump campaign, manafort did political work overseas. some for the pro-russian government. he did other work on investment works. both of these men have direct links to russian president vladmir putin. during the 2016 campaign, manafort was one of the campaign members inside that infamous trump tower meeting include the attorney who promised damaging info on hillary clinton. his right hand man, rick gates, is already cooperating with the special counsel after pleading guilty to his own set of charges brought by the special counsel. carolyn, manafort connecting the dots here to what we know and what we don't know yet. how do you see the next three weeks unfolding? >> quite frankly, this may be a bit of a snooze fest. this is a documents case. it's a tax fraud case. >> lots of document, lots of info. >> i think there will be some highlights which as you indicated, rick gates, all eyes will be on him. he was the right hand man to manafort. what he'll have to do in

so paul manafort's trial though, if it starts today, ken, it's the first trial for anybody relating to the russia investigation. manafort is different. a lot of this is focused on tax evasion and fraud and money-laundering, and the evidence that's going to be used in this trial is interesting in itself. they are focusing a lot on the money and what he spent on things. home improvement and upkeep for 8,265,000 $276 dollars. over $1 million in antique rugs. over $1 million in clothing. touk too why is manafort's case focused on this and why the trump team may say, hey listen, this is not about us. >> in part, they are right because this is a trial about the past. it's about paul manafort's ten years of work for this russian-backed ukrainian politician, the tens of millions of dollars he was paid and the charges that he laundered that money and evaded taxes on it and bought a lot of the things you described there, not to mention $10,000 suits that have been written about. today in court he is wearing a green prison-issued jumpsuit from the alexandria jail because he is incarcerated right

this is the first of two trials for paul manafort, this one in the eastern district of virginia. the second in washington, d.c. special prosecutor robert mueller really needs to win one of these two trials. he is putting maximum pressure on manafort keeping him in solitary confinement in advance of his trial and if he doesn't win a conviction in virginia there is a greater likelihood a lot of legal experts say he wins one in the district of columbia. keep in mind in the last election in 2016 only 4% of district of columbia voters voted for donald trump. not good odds in the district of columbia. >> bill: something we're watching. kellyanne conway senior counsel to the president from the white house. good morning to you. i have a long list. >> another slow news day here. >> bill: i have a long list. paul manafort, how closely is the president watching this trial that begins today? >> we haven't discussed that in quite a while. i would note for your audience, bill, that the judge has very strictly instructed no mention of paul manafort's role in the trump campaign, no mention trump,

and we haven't even gotten to flipping paul manafort yet. >> and, phil rucker, we're talking about the manafort trial starting tomorrow. this is also all in the shadow of cohen and conversations whether michael cohen, the president's fixer and someone deeply involved in all his business dealings. that conversation has brought questions about collusion back into the public space. but this conversation about obstruction that people close to the president think represents the biggest danger to the president and these tweets yesterday about bob mueller do sort of reup what his own white house advisors likely testified to or spoken to in their interviews with robert mueller about what the president was doing behind the scenes in terms of wanting to stop this investigation, fire the investigators. is that still an active worry among people like the white house counsel and other close advisors? >> i mean certainly it is an active worry. what the president does on twitter as he did with the mueller tweet yesterday, he vents out loud his sort of innermost private thoughts about this. the argume

paul manafort. paul manafort's case, mueller has said, he's presenting no evidence of any interaction with the russians whatsoever. this is a case about bank fraud. and money laundering. that's the first case out of the block. >> but there are plenty of other cases involved that have to deal with it. there are 12 russian military processors. >> what is the connection between -- >> papadopoulos. >> papadopoulos was so far in the orbit of this campaign. i can tell you, i was involved in this campaign in a more than just passing way. and papadopoulos and carter page were no longer to be seen. >> i think what people are having a hard time with with is last february of 2017, donald trump said we knew nothing about russia. there was nothing going on there. now five americans have been charged with criminal charges. you have multiple russians charged. a dutch official charged. there's more and r more coming out. this investigation is ongoing. i know it's a favorite talking point of people who support trump

carter page, paul manafort, michael cohen. that these are all the result because we never get the straight story on anything from this white house. republicans on capitol hill in a mess because donald trump won't have a clear message coming to russia. carter page in a mess even on sunday can't tell you a straight story of what russians he talked to and when. michael cohen still has not been fully honest about what he did to suppress information to voters and paul manafort is awaiting trial because he cannot tell the straight story of relationships he had financially with russian oligarchs. they're very deceitful and causing a mess and we'll get out of it. we'll find out the true story but it's a long and painful process. >> david, i think today's made in america day at the white house? is that right? >> just to quote what amanda says. we know from the mueller -- director mueller himself that in the manafort case that they're presenting zero, big goose egg, evidence of collusion with the russians. >> that's accurate, right. >>

, the former ukrainian regime that paul manafort did business with. and then there's a long list of accountants and bankers and realtors, people who helped paul manafort accumulate a lot of property and essentially hide some of his money, according to the government. there's also a bit of a road map of how, according to the government, paul manafort laundered millions of dollars over the years, jim. there is a number of people, including people who sold him his tickets to the new york yankees. his season tickets to the new york yankees. there's the guy who helped sell him his mercedes, $60,000 mercedes. there's a person who runs a landscaping company in long island. this is allegedly, according to the government, where paul manafort spent $820,000 landscaping his mansion in the hamptons. and then there's his purchases from men's clothing stores. there's one man who works for a new york clothing store, where, according to prosecutors, paul manafort spent $849,215, which the government says was essentially used for money laundering. i think at that pric

the names of the five potential witnesses in the paul manafort trial. what we know about them and what they could tell the court next. you're watching msnbc. -meg! there you are. did you take a picture of the cake to put on our website? i mean i would have but i'm a commercial vehicle so i don't have hands... or a camera...or a website. should we franchise? is the market ready for that? can we franchise? how do you do that? meg! oh meg! we should do that thing where you put the business cards in the fishbowl and somebody wins something. -meg: hi. i'm here for... i'm here for the evans' wedding. -we've got the cake in the back, so, yeah. -meg: thank you. -progressive knows small business makes big demands. -you're not gonna make it, you're not gonna make it! ask her if we can do her next wedding too! -so we'll design the insurance solution that fits your business. -on second thought, don't...ask that. that fits your business. if yor crohn's symptoms are holding you back, and your current treatment hasn't worked well enough, it may be time for a change. a

and paul manafort has done an amazing job. he is here someplace. where is paul? good. you made it. that is mr. manafort, who by the way is an amazing man. >> curious about gymnastics that he is trying to distance himself. we reported that he lobbiesed for a host of dictators, problematic third world bully types. you didn't have to be in the cia to understand that this could be someone who had skeletons in his closet. but they didn't do that. they brought him out and treated him like a prince. >> here is a guy who is on russian control. the fact that he and trump didn't have a little trash talk about russia alludes me. >> he owed millions of dollars to oleg. at the end of the day, why was manafort invited to the meeting? >> this guy has money in his pocket. he knows something on trump that could spring him from prison. >> manafort was the chairman, he was in the room for meetings that gates was not at. he had more visibility into the finances of the campaign and the trump organization. he could have more value to mueller and his investigators than gates. he could be right out of the

has mueller's team gotten what they wanted or hoped to find from paul manafort? >> absolutely not. he steps of the courthouse this morning after a jury selection, this afternoon actually and before the opening statements, manafort's lawyer turned to the press and said, all deals are off, we will not settle anything, we won't give them anything. water rolling the dice with the jury. >> trish: collusion is one thing but that's a bad word, right? >> i'm so happy you said that. you know, i read a column every news at foxnews.com. my column is that collusion is a hollywood and media term. the crime is conspiracy, an agreement to commit a crime, whether or not you actually commit it. so for rudy guliani to say there's no such crime as collusion, he's right. it's the wrong word. >> trish: and don jr. had this meeting with the russian lawyer that somehow that is "proof" of that term that you're not wild about, collusion. but at the same time, judge, you had hillary's camp going all the way to russia on foreign soil paying for intel to dig up dirt on donald trump. if one is collusion, why is

let's focus on paul manafort. shimon was talking about some of the things we're going to see and hear. to wrap it up in a bow for out viewers, i want to show what we know and what we expect. this is the first trial stemming from the mueller probe. it is going to focus on his lavish lifestyle, not possible collusion. in fact, the prosecutors said they're not going to introduce specific russia ties, anything related to that in this trial, but they're going to call 35 witnesses, including rick gates, who was manafort's business partner, deputy campaign chairman for donald trump, and this is just the first trial. so what do you think is the significance for the white house you cover every day? >> i think the significance is as much as everyone at the white house is saying, this has nothing to do with us. paul manafort was not importat. it is important to think back to two years ago, really right now in the summer of 2016. paul manafort was important to donald trump. you know, he likely would not -- mr. trump likely wo

no question, the stakes are high for paul manafort. but you know, they're sky high for robert mueller, as well. this is the first case the special counsel has brought to trial and if manafort is convicted, it would offer a powerful response and take away some of president trump's ability to actually call this an aimless witch hunt. david? >> kyra phillips at the courthouse tonight. thank you. >>> we're going to turn now to the breaking developments in the west at this hour. those deadly wildfires, and tonight, real concern that two major fires could combine as one. at least eight major wildfires now burning across california. firefighters battling those two fires very close together. tonight, the carr fire, a staggering number from that wildfire. more than 1,200 homes and buildings have burned to the ground, and that number is growing.bc's kayna whitworth fr california. >> reporter: tonight, hot, dry california stretching firefighters to their limits. in southern california, crews racing to contain the railroad fire in santa clarita. >>

now, paul manafort's lawyers have just responded to prosecutors for what they said about his conditions. in a filing this afternoon, manafort's lawyers seem to be contradictory. they called the descriptions of his conditions, quote, inaccurate, but they also write that the special counsel's office, quote, does not generally misrepresent the confinement conditions. strange. manafort's lawyers also accused prosecutors of being, quote, cavalier about the complexities of preparing for his trial. a federal judge has just ordered, as we reported, that manafort will be transferred to that alexandria facility before his trial starts. a spokesperson for the alexandria sheriff's office which handles that facility has told us that manafort is likely not going to get any of the same perks that he has at northern neck, except maybe use of a telephone on a limited basis. wolf? >> you know, brian, has manafort also been able to bend the rules of that jail when it comes to e-mail? >> the prosecutors contend that, wolf. that jail does not allow prisoners to send or receive e-mails. prosecutors -- they a

prosecution has just called his first witness, ted divine, democratic consultant who worked with paul manafort on the ukrainian project. moments ago, the jury heard opening statements, mueller's prosecutors basically argued that manafort felt like he was above the law. while the defense tried to pin the case on manafort's top deputy at the trump campaign, rick gates. this is high legal and political drama going on in this courtroom and we'll speak with nbc's pete williams who has been inside the courtroom in just a moment. remember, no cameras in a federal courtroom. first we'll dive into the other legal troubles impacting this president. folks, if the trump team's arc of denials are any indication of what's coming, buckle up. we've gone down this road and we'll go back to the summer of 2016. >> are there any ties between mr. trump, you, or your campaign and putin and his regime? >> no, there are not. that's absurd and, you know, there's no basis to it. >> so think about that, july of 2016 manafort says that and here's where we are now. >> collusion isn't a crime. >> collusion is not a crime.

what's up at stake for the paul manafort trial? >> what is at stake, paul manafort is facing a serious amount of time in jail if he was convicted. on a larger ramification for this, this is all coming -- none of this is happening in a vacuum. mueller is still continuing his investigation in other parts of russian election interference. as we have seen today, the president ratcheted up his attacks on mueller trying to continue to undermine his witch hunt or hoax. so what it's setting up to be, we'll be having a week or two or three weeks for news coverage that the president will be seeing where mueller and a trial is going on, so it's going to be at t at the forefront of his mind. there's going to be a lot of attention on mueller. >> shepard: how does this trial fit into the bigger picture mueller investigation? >> right, this trial is actually -- what it's handling is tax evasion and bank fraud charges against paul manafort. the way it fits in. manafort is facing two trials. one, this trial is more of a financial trail and one in s

that's paul manafort right there. one week from tomorrow. the judge also crucially unsealed the names of five witnesses who've been granted immunity to testify, all of whom appear to have worked for financial institutions linked to manafort. one is an employee of the federal savings bank in chicago. and that's significant because it gave manafort a $60 million home loan. as nbc news reported back in february, those loans they gave manafort totaling $16 million may have been part of a quid pro quo deal with the bank president in exchange for a plum job at the white house. and that's important because that puts manafort's case on the doorstep of the trump administration. as the former campaign chairman goes on trial for his ukraine work, we still don't know the outcome of the probe into whether he conspired or colluded with russia to disrupt the election. after all, it was two years ago this week manafort famously and strenuously denied any ties to russian oligarchs. >> so to be clear, mr. trump has no financial relationships with any russian

mcaward, thanks for much for taking the time. >> thank you. >>> coming up next, an elusive ally of paul manafort's believed to have close ties with russian intelligence reportedly had a much bigger role in the manafort company than previously believed. we're going to have the details. >>> plus, president trump is escalating his attacks on congresswoman maxine waters in an effort to cut down democrats ahead of the midterms. is his strategy of targeting her working? almost $800 when we switched our auto and home insurance. with liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. hey! oh, that's my robe. is it? when you switch to liberty mutual, you could save $782 on auto and home insurance. and still get great coverage for you and your family. call for a free quote today. you could save $782 when liberty stands with you. liberty mutual insurance. does your business internet provider promise a lot? let's see who delivers more. comcast business gives you gig-speed in more places. the others don't. we offer up to 6 hours of 4g wireless network backup. everyone else, no way. we let call

. >> then paul manafort's in jail. >> corporations cheering the president's supreme court pick. and why as besto has trump's face on it. >> i am chris hayes, not even the folks on russia state tv, could not believe the way u.s. president treated american allies today. >> that is the verdict from russian state tv. going back to the soviet union of severing western alliance. after repeatedly blasting nato on twitter, the president kicked things off by publicly insulting america's ally. >> germany is getting 60% to 70% of their energy from russia. and if you tell me if that is appropriate. and it is a bad thing from nato and i think we have to talk to germany about it >> the figure is wrong. germany is totally controlled by russia. germany was controlled by russia half of it, for a long time. look at the face of the aides, according to an actual official statement from the white house press secretary quote, kelly was displeased because he was expecting a full breakfast and there were only pastry and cheese. the president was misrepresenting germany's energy supply. reminding report

pretty soon he's going to be calling paul manafort a liar. >> but here's the thing. he hasn't cooperated. to paul's point, he's the only one who's faced trial. i should note that not only rick gates but tad devine, who is a long-time strategist who worked for bernie sanders very prominently in 2016 and was a business partner of paul manafort's is also going to be testifying presumably about the work they did in ukraine. i guess the question, paul, is as a former federal prosecutor is your expectation here they're just going to go through with this trial and they'll do the other trial and if they win paul manafort goes to jail and that's the end of that or do you feel like there's something else about this set of facts with paul manafort in relation to the larger investigation? >> you know, chris, i've tried cases that have settled, that is, the defendant has pled guilty sometimes the day of trial, sometimes in the middle of the trial. they hear the opening statement, they heard very strong witnesses for the government, and they think, wait a minute. so you know, it re

. >>> paul manafort's trial begins today on financial crimes. a lot riding on the case against the president's one-time campaign chief. >>> and the carr fire in california now chewing up over 100,000 acres. 19 people remain missing in one of the most destructive fires in state history. it looks like triple digit temperatures for the next five days for the folks out there in california. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm dave briggs. >> i'm laura jarrett in for christine romans. there are new signs that north korea could be building more missiles. "the washington post" reporting that satellite evidence is showing that there is work on intercontinental ballistic missiles in the suburb of pyongyang. if true, the work of the icbms would be a serious blow to the diplomatic efforts between president trump and kim jong-un. for the latest, let's bring in paula hancocks in seoul. paula. >> reporter: laura, we are hearing from a u.s. official that the report from "the washington post" is consistent with what is already publicly known. that kim jo

quote, paul j. manafort jr. by and through counsel files this response to the july 10 order relating to his place of detention. in his motion to continue the trial, which means delay the trial, one issue mr. manafort raised was the effect of his detention on the pace of trial preparation. the court attempted to address that by having him relocated to the alexandria detention center. after further reflection, issues of distance and inconvenience must yield to concerns about his safety and more importantly, the challenges he will face in adjusting to a new place of confinement. with these considerations in mind, he respectfully asks the court to allow him to remain in his current place of detention. wherever he respectfully request th that he be moved and permit him to remain there. >> that's like a place, if moussaoui thinks he could be held safely there, paul manafort thinks he could be safely there. the president's campaign chair is asking the judge, please don't move him to this facility. he prefer to stay whe

>> because the real question is, what exactly does paul manafort know? paul in political terms knows where the bodies are buried, so to speakak. if paul mananafort ultimately i convicted or believes he's going to be convicted and faces decades in jail it's that much more likely he'll cooperate with robert mueller and tell him what he knows about, for example, the trump tower meeting in 2016. when you look what happened last week with michael cohen saying that donald trump knew about the 2016 meeting, if paul manafort goes on the record with mueller and corroborates what he said that donald trump knew about the campaign meeting, now you have evidence direct evidence that donald trump colluded with russian officials linked to the russian government to find out information about his campaign rival and opponent, hillary clinton. that's four steps beyond where we were a year ago where the campaign started out no one in the campaign colluded. well,, theheit become donald trump jr. met with russians and my campaign manager.r. if they are two witnesses corroborat

xfi, simple, easy, awesome. >>> two significant developments this afternoon in the case against paul manafort. a judge just denied manafort's request to stay where he's currently being jailed instead of moving to the alexandria detention center in virginia. this comes as robert mueller is out with a jaw-dropping filing late this afternoon countering manafort's request to delay his trial. this footnote in mueller's filing is drawing plenty of attention and it sheds light on why he would want to remain where he is. it says the following. among the unique privileges manafort enjoys at the jail are a private, self-contained living unit which is larger than other inmate's units, his own bathroom and shower facility, his own personal telephone and his own work space to prepare for trial. that's all behind bars. manafort is also not required to wear a prison uniform. on the monitored prison phone calls manafort mentioned he is being treated like a vip. mueller's filing details the substantial access manafort has to unmonitored phone calls with his attorneys and highlights manafort's alleged explanat

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paul manafort, president trump the former campaign chairman is set to go to trial around the end of theeek on bank and fraud charges. manafort's attorneys are submitting a last-minute kwecht to keep evidence on his foreign consulting work out of the case arguing material could confuse and mislead juries. cnn's jessica snide hechneider e on what this highly anticipated trial might look like. >> reporter: paul manafort will soon emerge from his jail cell to face a judge and jury inside a virginia courtroom. >> won the primary process with a record number of votes. >> reporter: the man who served five months as donald trump's campaign chairman now faces 25 criminal charges in two separate cases in virginia and washington, d.c. amounting to a maximum of 305 years in prison if convicted on all counts. manafort lost his fight to move this week's trial away from alexandria virginia, just across the potomac. manafort faces 18 counts of bank and tax fraud in virginia where prosecutors from special counsel mueller's team laid out 580 pieces of evidence to present. including pictures of manafort's

paul manafort who navigated the republican national contention for donald trump's campaign and served as the chairman is scheduled to be in court right now. manafort's lawyers are working overtime to delay his criminal trial set to begin on wednesday. the former republican operative faces more than a dozen bank and tax charges. the case is the first criminal trial in the special counsel's investigation. manafort has been in jail ahead of the proceeding. why? after being accused of witness tampering. >> let us talk a little bit about how he got here. paul manafort spent more than 25 years working on republican campaigns. let's get a refresher on his involvement with the russia investigation. in 200 4 he was hired in ukraine to support a candidate and a political party widely seen as linked to organized crime. after a robust rebranding effort, the candidate made it into the presidential palace. during that time he was hired by a russian oligarch for reportedly for a $10 million a year deal. though the businessman denies the reports manafort and an associate were sued by the russian in 2

well, because of what paul manafort is doing. i want to in fairness read what he says. in light of manafort's continuing detention and after further reflection his lawyers say issues of distance and inconvenience must yield to concerns about his safety and the challenges he will face in adjusting to a new place of confinement and the changing circumstance of detention two weeks before trial. put this in the broader context of what we'll see if the trial starts on time and the kind of case they have against him which i understand it has paper evidence that's bat for him. >> that's right. i think the trial will move ahead. he has another motion to change the venue to another location in virginia because there are many democrats supposedly in the district where he's going to be tried in alexandria. the fact is that will all be taken care of during the jury voir dire when they pick the jury and question the jurors. mueller has submitted to the judge an extensive questionnaire that will ferret out anybody who cannot be fair and impartial and they ask all kinds of questions th

but paul manafort has problems anyway. wrote this down, you said the conduct -- i call it a egregious conduct, and i am very curious. i know that there were investigations that were going on, but it seems like there was so much out there to get on him with regards to tax evasion. money laundering that we are just now learning about potentially in this trial that i am curious about why it did not happen before? and maybe that would've helped the trump campaign to know that this is not a god that that they want to touch. why not let them know? >> as you point out, i think that this shows how chaotic the trump campaign was back in those months between april when he wrapped up the nomination and just after the convention in the summer, the campaign clearly did not know what manafort was up to, normal campaigns have regular order and would have vented manafort and found some of these things, but they did not, because they were making things up as they went along back then. but to their credit, once they found out the end of sto

to manafort through personal and financial dealings, business dealings that they had done for paul manafort them worked at an accounting firm that did his taxes. so they will be testifying. and as you said, the trial was delayed for about a week until july 31st because manafort's attorneys had asked for more time to review information and documents they received relating to rick gates, who as we know, is now cooperating. the former business partner of paul manafort is cooperating with the special counsel. he is set to testify and be a key witness in this trial. paul manafort, who appeared in court yesterday, will be back today. he was wearing a green sort of jump suit, a prison uniform. he'll be back in court today where prospective jurors are set to appear in court. they'll be there with the attorneys and answer questions, a questionnaire that the attorneys are going to agree on for the jurors who will at some point get selected perhaps next week. >> okay. thank you very much. >>> we're back now with joe lockhart, asha and john avlon. as president trump pointed out, this is older stuff, he

paul manafort, as you said, could spend the rest of his life in prison. this on bank fraud charges as well as tax evasion charges, a charge of failing to disclose that there were offshore foreign bank accounts. what this comes down to, poppy, is allegations from the government, counsel, that paul manafort got $60 million from ukraine and parked it in offshore banks and didn't tell the tax collectors, the internal revenue service. that's what they are dealing with. it's a case, as you said, that could go on for three weeks, about three dozen witnesses, 18 counts. 18 counts in this indictment. it's clear the special counsel has really gone after paul manafort in this case. the question is, what does he get out of it if he doesn't get a conviction? obviously, there are more questions about the special counsel. back to you. >> thank you for the reporting. ann milgrim is with me, a law professor at nyu. there could always be a last-minute deal. so far, there's not. paul manafort, according to "the new york times," his friends told "the times" he believes he is

once the judge issued that order to move manafort, paul manafort responded by saying, actually, never forget that. manafort submitted a new filing to the judge saying, never mind those complaints about my jail cell being too far away, i don't actually want to be moved anywhere else despite what we might have said earlier in our earlier requests. well, now today there's a new filing from the prosecutors, from the special council's office about why paul manafort might want to stay in the remote jail where he has been for the past several weeks. quote, among the unique privileges paul manafort enjoys at the jail are a private self-contained living unit which is larger than other inmates units, his own bathroom and shower facility, his own personal telephone and his own work space to prepare for trial. manafort is not required to wear a prison uniform. he has mentioned that he's being treated like a, quote, vip. manafort also possesses a personal laptop computer that he is permitted to use in his unit to review materials and prepare for trial. the jail has made extra accommodations for hi