'Start Here': Manafort jury, Kavanaugh and Asia Argento. What you need to know to start your day.

Jury deliberations in the Manafort trial stretch to a 4th day.

ByBrad Mielke, David Rind, and Kelly Terez

August 21, 2018, 4:59 AM

It's Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018. Here are some of the stories we're talking about on ABC News' new daily podcast, "Start Here."

1. Manafort trial enters 4th day of jury deliberations

The question wasn't whether prosecutors had ammunition against Paul Manafort. They had documents and bank accounts information from the former lobbyist and Trump campaign chair, and in connecting the dots, they had his longtime deputy saying Manafort knew he was committing financial crimes.

So it's not about a lack of testimony.

It's whether the jury will believe it all.

ABC News Chief Justice correspondent Pierre Thomas tells us why the jury is back for a fourth day of deliberations.

"Start Here" is a daily ABC News podcast hosted by Brad Mielke featuring original reporting on stories that are driving the national conversation. Listen for FREE on the ABC News app, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play Music, iHeartRadio -- or ask Alexa: "Play 'Start Here.'"

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2. Kavanaugh memo reveals SCOTUS nominee's actions during Ken Starr investigation

President Donald Trump spent much of Monday on Twitter bashing special counsel Robert Mueller and his Russia investigation.

As all of this is going on, there's another name that's becoming more and more enmeshed with Mueller's: Brett Kavanaugh, the president's Supreme Court nominee.

ABC News' Chris Vlasto says a memo released by the National Archives is re-upping many Democrats' concerns with Kavanaugh.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh arrives for a meeting with Senator Joe Donnelly at Donnelly's office on Capitol Hill in Washington, August 15, 2018.
Carlos Barria/Reuters

3. #MeToo leader accused of paying off sexual-assault accuser

Actress Asia Argento has been defined by her activism within the #MeToo movement, but now she's facing allegations of her own involving an underage actor whom she's accused of paying to stay quiet.

"That's what prompted him to say, 'No, this happened to me too,'" ABC News' Linsey Davis tells us.

In this file photo taken on May 19, 2018 Italian actress Asia Argento arrives at the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France.
Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images

4. 'BlacKkKlansman' grappling with real-life racial tensions

At the end of Spike Lee's new film "BlacKkKlansman," the footage cuts from events in the 1980s to a real-life scene more than 30 years later in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The film demands that we take a new look at an old evil. To do it, it tracks the story of a black cop in Colorado who manages to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.

ABC News "Nightline" co-anchor Byron Pitts tells us about the true story and what message director Spike Lee wanted to send.