Paul Manafort's defense rests without calling a single witness: report

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's defense team ended its arguments on Tuesday without calling a single witness, according to Politico reporter Kyle Cheney.

The defense rested its case just one day after special counsel Robert Mueller's office called more than two dozen witnesses to testify against Manafort, who faces charges of money laundering and tax fraud.

The Mueller team has spent the past couple of weeks been bringing in a parade of witnesses to testify against Manafort, including former partner Rick Gates, who admitted that he and Manafort committed crimes together.

Mueller also secured immunity deals for five separate witnesses to testify against the former Trump campaign chairman.

Much of the testimony against Manafort involved the way he allegedly directed his associates to conceal money that he received while working for pro-Kremlin politicians in Ukraine. Gates testified that he and Manafort used offshore bank accounts in Cyprus to funnel money they made doing consulting work in Ukraine back into the United States.

Manafort and Gates were first indicted by Mueller last October, making them the first two people to face criminal charges in the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.