The star witness on Thursday was Heather Washkuhn, who helped the prosecution tie Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, tighter to the web of shady transactions allegedly hiding his income. The most damning evidence came in the form of a loan application Manafort sent to Federal Savings Bank in Chicago. The implication offered by the prosecution: The defendant conned a bank with a forged document to fill the gaping hole in his income that came when his top political consulting client was overthrown in a revolution in Ukraine and run out of the country.
Welcome to Rabbit Hole, live from the Eastern District of Virginia.
How the other half lives: The first two witnesses of the day offered more of the eye-popping—and somewhat tacky—details of how Manafort spent his money. Big Picture Solutions’ Joel Maxwell, who oversees luxury audio-visual installations, testified that at least $10,000 of Manafort’s $2.2 million bill went for a karaoke machine. Landscaper Mike Regolizio told the court that he was responsible for maintaining an acre to an acre-and-a-half of grounds at his Hamptons property that included “hundreds and hundreds” of flowers, including an arrangement by the driveway that spelled out the letter “M” for Manafort—just in case you forgot whose house you pulled up to.