Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team was ordered to produce to the court its full witness list of some 30 people. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Mueller plans to call IRS, FBI, FinCen witnesses at Manafort trial

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors plan to call witnesses from the IRS, FBI and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as part of the upcoming trial involving Paul Manafort, one of the lead investigators said in court Tuesday.

The details on which government officials might be asked to testify in the former Donald Trump campaign manager’s July 31 trial on bank and tax fraud charges came as the federal judge presiding in the case outlined some of its broad parameters to potential jurors, including the timeline of the alleged crimes.


U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III on Monday ordered Mueller’s team to produce to the court its full witness list of some 30 people. During Tuesday’s brief session, Ellis said he’d release that list to the public by the end of the week, despite opposition from the special counsel’s office.

Uzo Asonye, a Mueller prosecutor, argued that the government doesn’t typically make public its witness lists ahead of a trial, noting some people might not ultimately be called to testify.

“Yes, I know, but this isn’t a typical case,” Ellis responded.

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Manafort sat at the defendant’s table for Tuesday morning’s session wearing a dark suit, a contrast from a day earlier, when he was in an olive-green prison jumpsuit. During interludes, the longtime GOP operative looked several times at his wife, Kathleen Manafort, who for a second consecutive day was seated in the courtroom’s front row.

As the hearing ended, Manafort winked at his wife and then mouthed, “I love you” as he was escorted back to the Alexandria Detention Center, where he’s been held for the past two weeks.

About 75 potential jurors sat on wooden benches in Ellis’ ninth-floor courtroom in the Alexandria, Virginia, federal courthouse. There, with Mueller’s prosecutors, Manafort’s attorneys and more than a dozen reporters looking on, the judge told them their service was “vitally important” as American citizens, on par with voting.

They also received their first debrief on the trial, which pits Mueller’s prosecutors against one of the architects of Trump’s 2016 election victory.

Ellis has already ruled that the 16 jurors who will be selected will largely be spared from hearing about Manafort’s role on the Trump campaign, except for a few instances, such as in the context of alleged bank fraud crimes.

To help both prosecutors and the defense attorneys filter out the jury, Ellis required them to spend Tuesday morning filling out a lengthy questionnaire to gauge how much they already know about the media-saturated investigation into the Trump campaign, their opinions about Manafort and Mueller and whether they or family members work in law enforcement.

Those answers will be put under court seal, Ellis said, though Mueller and Manafort lawyers will have access to them later Tuesday.

Ellis also told the potential jurors they’d return to the courtroom next Tuesday, where they’d be able to speak up about other obligations that could preclude them from serving, like child care duties or prepaid vacations in August.

The judge noted that he doesn’t take his holidays in August but recognized that that may not be the case with the Alexandria residents called for jury service. “I assume most of you have better sense than I do,” Ellis said.

As is customary, Ellis delivered instructions to the potential jurors not to discuss the case with anyone. He also pledged that the case would take about three weeks, though that could always change depending on the arguments.

“We’ll do the best we can, I can assure you,” Ellis said.

Before excusing the jurors from his courtroom for the day, Ellis offered members of the public one solace if they are selected: free lunch. “Don’t look for the Baked Alaska on the menu, but it will be palatable, I assure you,” he said.