A witness in Paul Manafort’s trial who handled Manafort’s applications for million-dollar loans in 2016 testified Friday that interactions between his boss at the bank — who wanted a job in the Trump administration — and Manafort made him “uncomfortable.”

Dennis Raico worked in sales at Federal Savings Bank in 2016. That year, Raico said Manafort secured two loans from the bank totaling $16 million. Raico testified that the bank’s CEO, Stephen Calk, had an unusual level of involvement in Manafort’s loans from the start, and that Raico at times was asked to serve as an intermediary between Calk and Manafort, including about the possibility of Calk serving in the campaign or the administration.

Prosecutors have argued there was a quid pro quo arrangement between Calk and Manafort — that Calk pushed through loans he knew were based on false information about Manafort’s assets in exchange for the possibility of positions with the campaign and the administration. Calk was an economic adviser to Trump’s campaign; he has not served in the administration so far. He has not been charged with a crime and has previously denied allegations of a quid pro quo deal.

Bank fraud is one of the financial crimes that Manafort is charged with in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia; he’s also accused of underreporting income on his tax returns by millions of dollars and failing to report his interest in foreign bank accounts to the US government. Manafort is separately facing charges in the US District Court for the District of Columbia; that trial is scheduled to start in September.

Prosecutors closed out the second week of Manafort’s trial with testimony about the bank fraud allegations. The jury previously heard from witnesses who worked at Citizens Bank about million-dollar loans prosecutors say were only approved because Manafort inflated his income and misrepresented information about his debts and how his properties were used.

On cross-examination, Manafort’s lawyers have sought to elicit testimony placing at least some of the blame for incorrect information submitted to lenders on Manafort’s former right-hand man, Rick Gates. Gates, the government’s star witness, testified earlier in the week that he submitted false information to banks at Manafort’s direction. Gates was originally charged with Manafort, but pleaded guilty in February and agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s office.

Manafort’s trial is the first trial to come out of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, and Trump’s criticism of Mueller’s work has hung over the proceedings. But references to Trump have been relatively minimal compared to the amount of testimony and evidence about Manafort’s work and finances predating his time on the campaign.

Raico was one of five government witnesses granted immunity to testify in Manafort’s trial. He said Friday that when he first got the referral for Manafort’s business in April 2016, he notified Calk. Special counsel prosecutor Greg Andres asked why. Raico said Calk was “interested in politics.” The following month, Raico said he was at a dinner with Manafort, Calk, and others. The group discussed politics and the bank loans Manafort was seeking, Raico said, adding that Manafort and Calk sat next to each other.



On July 27, 2016, Raico said he had a meeting with Manafort and Manafort’s then-son-in-law Jeffrey Yohai, who was originally part of the loan application. (Yohai is now divorced from Manafort’s daughter.) Calk joined the meeting via video, Raico said, and at the end of the call, Calk said he was interested in helping Trump. Manafort’s loan application was submitted for approval the same day as the call, and was approved the next day, Raico said — he wasn’t aware of another loan approved in such a short time frame, he said.

The jury saw an Aug. 3, 2016, email from Manafort to Raico asking for Calk’s resume. Manafort was Trump’s campaign manager at the time. Andres asked Raico why Manafort wanted that. Because Calk had asked if he could help serve the Trump administration, Raico replied. Manafort left the Trump campaign several weeks later, amid scrutiny of his ties to Russia and Ukraine.

On Nov. 11, 2016 — three days after the election — Raico said he got a call from Calk. Calk told Raico that he thought he would be up for a job in the new administration, Raico said, and hadn’t heard from Manafort for a few days. Raico said Calk asked him to contact Manafort and ask if Calk was up for treasury secretary or secretary of housing and urban development. Raico said he didn’t make the call.

“It made me very uncomfortable,” Raico said.

It wasn’t the first time the jury heard about Calk. Earlier this week, the jury saw an email from Manafort to Gates sent Nov. 24, 2016. Gates had worked for Trump’s inauguration committee after the election. In the email, Manafort wrote, “We need to discuss Steve Calk for Sec of Army. I hear the list is being considered this weekend.”