Rick Gates Could Take the Stand Today
HARLOW: This afternoon, the trial against former Trump campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, gets back under way for week two in a federal courthouse in Virginia. A big question today is whether jurors will hear from his former business partner for years and deputy, this man, Rick Gates. Will he take the stand today? We know that today's session will kick off with a cross-examination of Manafort's former accountant, who testified last week that she helped him prepare fraudulent tax records. Let's go to Joe Johns. He's outside the courthouse in Alexandria. So we will see her cross-examination today by the defense. But then do we have an indication about whether the prosecution's star witness, rick Gates, is going to take the stand?</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, that's a good question. And obviously, it's hard to predict what happens here because the trial judge, TS Ellis, is trying to move this thing along very quickly. One example of that is prosecutors just today, or over the weekend have now formally asked the judge to allow FBI forensic accountants to read e-mails written by Paul Manafort to the jury. There's been a lot of back and forth about this. Two things at work here. Number one, the prosecution is trying to make a case that Paul Manafort was a very hands-on manager of his personal affairs, and no better way to do that than to read his e- mails. On the other hand, the judge has been trying to move this trial along very quickly, and wants the jury just to take e-mails and other documents back to the jury room when they finally start deliberating and read them for themselves. So we'll see how the judge rules on that. Meanwhile, you talked about that accountant. Now, that, of course, is Cindy Laporta. She was on the stand last week. She's back today. And she could face a very tough cross-examination. Of course, she has already testified, very dramatically, and even remorsefully, that she signed off on a plan to put a bogus document into the files of Manafort. It was a bogus bank loan. And that bank loan essentially reduced the amount of tax he had to pay. So she could get some tough examination on that. Also, as you know, and you talked about at the top, Rick Gates, the former deputy, the top associate of Manafort, he could testify, he could get tough cross- examination, too. And it's likely he could be on the stand for a while. Back to you.</s>HARLOW: Joe Johns, thank you. We'll be watching, of course, to see if Rick Gates does take the stand. We'll update you throughout the day. In a matter of hours, sanctions from the United States on Iran will be re-imposed. This is all part of the president withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear deal. What does it mean for future relations between the country, negotiations? What does it mean for big European companies that are still doing business with Iran? Ahead.