ALEXANDRIA, Va. An attorney for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort told jurors during opening arguments in his tax and bank fraud trial on Tuesday that Manaforts longtime aide Rick Gates now a witness for special counsel Robert Mueller is a liar who cant be trusted.

Manafort, attorney Tom Zehnle told jurors, made a mistake in placing his trust in the wrong person who was now willing to say anything to keep himself out of trouble. Zehnle told jurors that Manafort rendered a valuable service to our system of government because of his involvement in multiple presidential campaigns.

But Uzo Asonye, an attorney with the special counsels office, told jurors that Manafort considered himself above the law, and resorted to bank fraud when his overseas income couldnt support his lifestyle.

A man in this courtroom believed the law did not apply to him, Asonye said, telling jurors of an extravagant lifestyle that included expensive rugs, real estate and a $15,000 jacket made from an ostrich.