Manafort Trial, Day 9: Delays And A Sealed Sidebar Conversation

Paul Manafort's trial ran into some delays that caught onlookers by surprise, and fueled plenty of curiosity and rumors as to what caused them. The other point of particular interest involved Judge T.S. Ellis agreeing to seal six pages of a sidebar conversation involving Rick Gates. Why were they sealed, and what does that portend for the greater investigation? Nicolle Wallace discussed these things with Joyce Vance and Frank Figliuzzi, and we learned that the delays are probably for boring reasons, and the sealed testimony are probably for really interesting reasons.

As for the delays, which involved numerous sidebars, discussions in the Judge's chambers, discussions with the jurors, and an extremely lengthy lunch period, there was all kinds of speculation about some kind of improper juror behavior going on. Another possibility involved the Judge issuing yet another apology or correction of his own behavior - a harsh rebuke of prosecutors that elicited a formal protest from the lawyers requesting the Judge's own words be stricken or disregarded by the jury. Ultimately, we did not find out what the source of the delay was.

In reality, though, what is unusual is the speed which his trial has been conducted up until this point. Speed is pretty standard according to this Alexandria District Court's "rocket-docket" reputation, though, so what gets noticed are the delays that happen in every trial of any speed.

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