Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has until Friday to respond to allegations from federal prosecutors that he attempted to tamper with witnesses in the federal criminal case against him.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is overseeing the case against Manafort in Washington, also set a June 15 hearing to weigh a request from prosecutors that she revise or revoke his $10 million release bond — the latter which would send him to jail until trial.
Late Monday, prosecutors with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team accused Manafort of “attempting to tamper with potential witnesses.”
“Manafort’s efforts to influence the testimony of potential witnesses, both directly and through an intermediary, threaten ‘the integrity of the trial’ even though those efforts have not been violent in nature and the underlying prosecution involves ‘white-collar’ offenses rather than ‘narcotics’ or violent crimes,” said prosecutors in a court filing.
Manafort and an associate “repeatedly” contacted two witnesses by phone and encrypted message, Mueller’s team alleged.
Manafort has been under home confinement since the original charges were unveiled against him in Washington in the fall. He and his defense team have been working with Mueller’s team to put together a package of assets that he could post as bond as to free him from home confinement — and up until recently, it appeared talks were making progress.
Manafort has pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces in Washington, which include acting as an unregistered foreign agent; he is set to go on trial in September.
He will also be tried on charges including tax and bank fraud stemming from Mueller’s investigation in Virginia starting on July 24.
Manafort, 69, worked with the Trump campaign from March 2016 to August 2016.
In response, Jason Maloni, a spokesman for Manafort, said, “Mr. Manafort is innocent and nothing about this latest allegation changes our defense. We will do our talking in court.”
