Alexandria, Virginia (CNN) A federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, granted the request Monday for five witnesses to testify with immunity in the criminal trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, the first trial in the Russia investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. 
 
 US District Judge T.S. Ellis also delayed the start of the trial, originally scheduled for Wednesday, to July 31. 
 
 Ellis will begin meeting jurors this week as scheduled. When jury selection begins, one question potential jurors will not be asked is how they voted in the 2016 presidential election. 
 
 "Of course people can be fair and impartial no matter who they voted for," Ellis said. 
 
 The jury will consist of 16 people, including four alternates. 
 
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 Kevin Downing, attorney for Paul Manafort, walks towards the Alexandria Federal Courthouse in Alexandria, Va., Monday, July 23, 2018, for a hearing on the final motions ahead of the upcoming bank and... (Associated Press) 
 
 Kevin Downing, attorney for Paul Manafort, walks towards the Alexandria Federal Courthouse in Alexandria, Va., Monday, July 23, 2018, for a hearing on the final motions ahead of the upcoming bank and... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday postponed until next week the trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. 
 
 The tax and bank fraud trial had been scheduled to start Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. 
 
 But U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III pushed the trial back until July 31 to give Manafort's lawyers more time to review thousands of pages of data and documents turned over by special counsel Robert Mueller's office in the last several weeks. 
 
 The documents come from a firm that handled Manafort's bookkeeping and the electronic devices of Rick Gates, his longtime business associate. Gates pleaded guilty earlier this year and is expected to testify against Manafort. 
 
 Manafort's trial will be the first arising from Mueller's investigation into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election. The indictment against Manafort doesn't focus on his work on the Trump campaign. Instead, it accuses him of funneling the proceeds of Ukrainian political consulting work through offshore accounts and using the funds to pay for a lavish lifestyle. 
 
 Manafort has pleaded not guilty and denied all the charges. 
 
 He faces a separate trial in the District of Columbia, where he was indicted last October. 
 
 Also Monday, Ellis approved and unsealed requests from Mueller's prosecutors to offer immunity to five witnesses in exchange for their testimony. Prosecutors had asked for the information to be sealed unless and until the witnesses actually testified. The immunity offers mean prosecutors will not use the witnesses' statements against them in any criminal case.
– A federal judge on Monday postponed until next week the trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, the AP reports. The tax and bank fraud trial had been scheduled to start Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. But US District Judge TS Ellis III pushed the trial back until July 31 to give Manafort's lawyers more time to review thousands of pages of data and documents turned over by special counsel Robert Mueller's office in the last several weeks. The documents come from a firm that handled Manafort's bookkeeping and the electronic devices of Rick Gates, his longtime business associate. Gates pleaded guilty earlier this year and is expected to testify against Manafort. Also Monday, Ellis approved and unsealed requests from Mueller's prosecutors to offer immunity to five witnesses in exchange for their testimony, and ordered Mueller's team to tell Manafort's team all of the almost 30 witnesses it plans to call in the trial. The immunity offers mean prosecutors will not use the witnesses' statements against them in any criminal case. CNN reports that the five people are James Brennan, Donna Duggan, Conor O'Brien, Cindy Laporta, and Dennis Raico, but court filings do not specify what they will be asked to testify about. Manafort's trial will be the first arising from Mueller's investigation into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election. The indictment against Manafort doesn't focus on his work on the Trump campaign. Instead, it accuses him of funneling the proceeds of Ukrainian political consulting work through offshore accounts and using the funds to pay for a lavish lifestyle. Manafort has pleaded not guilty and denied all the charges. Jury selection begins this week. Manafort faces a separate trial in the District of Columbia, where he was indicted last October.