Bill Hennessy

A Federal Savings Bank vice president said he faced so much pressure from his bank's chairman about Paul Manafort's ability to borrow $16 million from the bank that he lied on a form reviewed by federal regulators and the bank's directors about the stability of the loan.

James Brennan, the Federal Savings Bank employee who wrote a memorandum about a second $6.5 million loan the bank extended to Manafort, said he had given the loan a rating of "4."

But in court Monday, he said he shouldn't have ever done that.

What that number means

A very stable, high-quality loan would get a rating of "1"

Any rating less than "4" wouldn't get approved and would draw regulators' attention because of its instability, he said.

"If I had my recommendation ... the loan would not be made," Brennan said in court.

So why did this loan get a 4, prosecutors asked? "Mr. Calk," Brennan said, naming the bank founder who had sought Manafort's help in gaining positions inside the Trump campaign and administration. Brennan did not have a choice to rate the loan higher, he added, "because the loan was going through."

A spectator in the courtroom could be heard saying "wow" at this point in Brennan's testimony.

Brennan also described how he asked Stephen Calk's brother, John Calk, another major Federal Savings Bank shareholder, to sign off on the loans to Manafort. John Calk refused.

At least one other decision-maker at the bank tried to stand in the way of Manafort getting a large loan — and Manafort himself pulled out from closing a loan when he first sought it.

But Federal Savings Bank's Stephen Calk, witnesses say, pushed through a $9.5 million loan to Manafort just before the presidential election, and another $6.5 million just before the inauguration. They were the largest and second largest loans the bank ever made.

In all, the bank lost $11.8 million million on the loans it made to Manafort, Brennan said.

Brennan had immunity from prosecutors to testify against Manafort.