UPDATE 2: More of the day's developments:
CNN:
Jury selection will begin this week as scheduled.
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The jury will consist of 16 people, including four alternates.
The five witnesses granted immunity are: James Brennan, Donna Duggan, Conor O'Brien, Cindy Laporta and Dennis Raico. Court filings do not provide details as to what each will be testifying about.
Ellis has yet to rule on requests by both sides to add certain questions to the juror questionnaire, but he did say on Monday that he was not inclined to grant Manafort's request to ask the jury if they voted in the 2016 presidential election. The judge said that had little to do with guilt or innocence, and that it amounted to "theater."
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Ellis also addressed a series of motions on Monday filed by both sides about what evidence and arguments should be allowed at trial. Manafort's lawyers had asked the judge to block the government from introducing information about allegations of collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia, and about Manafort's role in the campaign. Andres said prosecutors didn't intend to bring up the collusion issue, but would need to discuss Manafort's position as campaign chairman because it related to a part of the bank fraud allegations.
Andres revealed that the government planned to introduce evidence alleging that the chairman of a bank ... agreed to extend a loan to Manafort — based on information that the banker knew to be false — in order to get a job with Trump's campaign, which the banker got, and the administration, which he did not get. Manafort's position in the campaign was directly relevant to that allegation, Andres argued. Ellis agreed, saying the government could bring up Manafort's role as campaign chairman as it related to the bank loan issue.
Andres did not name the banker, but Bloomberg reported last year that investigators were exploring financial ties between Manafort and Steve Calk, CEO of Federal Savings Bank, which reportedly provided $16 million in loans to Manafort. Calk had been an economic adviser to Trump's campaign.
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Ellis did not resolve a dispute over how much evidence prosecutors could introduce about Manafort's past work for the Ukrainian government and former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. Manafort's lawyers argued it wasn't relevant and would be prejudicial. Andres countered that how much money Manafort earned from his lobbying efforts and how exactly he earned it was a matter of dispute — documents and photos showing what he did for Yanukovych were relevant. Ellis asked to see the specific exhibits Manafort was worried about, and he would rule later.
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Manafort's lawyers had asked to delay the trial until after the DC trial in September, pointing to the difficulties of preparing while Manafort was behind bars as well as issues with the later production of documents. At the hearing on Monday, Manafort's lead attorney Kevin Downing said that Mueller's office in recent weeks had produced tens of thousands of pages of documents, which they needed more time to go through.
The evidence at issue includes 20,000 documents — approximately 49,000 pages, according to the lawyers — from Manafort's bookkeeper, NKSFB, and tens of thousands of pages more of materials captured from a laptop, phones, and other devices belonging to [Rick] Gates.
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Gates is at the "heart of the case," Downing argued Monday, making it critical for the defense to go through the materials from his devices. Asonye countered that the documents were mostly images of pictures and other data from phone applications — emails from Gates' devices had previously been turned over to Manafort's team. Asonye said nothing from the images and data from Gates' devices was on the government's exhibit list, and he couldn't see how pictures would be relevant to the case. However, he said it could include text, such as information from a note-taking app.
Ellis asked why it had taken so long for the government to produce the documents to Manafort's lawyers, characterizing the latest productions as a "data dump." Asonye said they were turning over documents as soon as they became available — there was some delay while documents were reviewed for any privilege issues, he said.
The Judge In Paul Manafort's Case Unsealed The Names Of Witnesses Who Will Get Immunity To Testify (BuzzFeed News)
Judge grants immunity for five witnesses in Manafort case; trial delayed until July 31 (CNN)
UPDATE:
Judge Ellis has pushed back Paul Manafort's trial start date six days from this Wednesday to next Tuesday, July 31st.
CNN:
US District Judge T.S. Ellis is also ordering special counsel Robert Mueller's team to tell Manafort's team the nearly 30 witnesses it is going to use in the trial.
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A large portion of Monday's hearing has been dedicated to discussing a "data dump" of tens of thousands of pages of documents over the past month by the government.
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Attorneys for Manafort said that they needed more time to review some 120,000 pages of documents, including documents and images taken from electronic devices belonging to Manafort's former business partner Rick Gates, that were "at the heart of the issue" in the case. Prosecutors pushed back and said most of the documents were actually images and notes from Gates' devices -- not emails.
Mueller's team has four "phones or iPads" and one laptop belonging to Gates, who pleaded guilty earlier this year and has been cooperating with the investigation. He is expected to be a key witness in Mueller's case.
"I'm just not sure what looking at pictures is going to do for their case," said Uzo Asonye, a prosecutor working with Mueller's team.
"The fact that you're not using something does not mean it's not usable by the defense," Ellis responded.
Judge grants immunity for five witnesses in Manafort case; trial delayed until July 31 (CNN)