5 June 2018/Special Counsel Mueller Accuses Paul Manafort, Former Trump Campaign Manager, of Witness Tampering

Special Counsel Mueller Accuses Paul Manafort, Former Trump Campaign Manager, Of Witness Tampering

Politico, 5 June 2018, Judge orders Manafort to respond to witness tampering claims

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Extract: U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson set a Friday deadline for Manafort’s attorneys to respond to the filing special counsel Robert Mueller’s team submitted to the court Monday night, claiming that Manafort and one of his allies repeatedly reached out to two individuals who had been involved in organizing ex-politicians in Europe to promote Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Prosecutors say the alleged tampering is grounds to revoke the house arrest Manafort has been under or to make the conditions more stringent. Manafort’s long drive to gain more freedom appeared to be on the verge of success before prosecutors delivered their blast on Monday.

Prosecutors said Manafort’s efforts appeared to target people involved with the Hapsburg group, which promoted stronger ties with Ukraine. Former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and former Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer have both been linked to the effort.

Prosecutors have said Manafort sought to persuade people associated with the effort to say that the work was focused on Europe. In fact, Mueller’s team argues, the U.S. was a declared target of the effort.

Attempts to sway U.S. public opinion or to lobby U.S. officials typically require registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, if the work is undertaken for a foreign government.

Prosecutors say Manafort’s effort to shape the stories of witnesses resulted in a flurry of activity in the days after a superseding indictment was made public in February containing the first allegations about the Hapsburg group.

Mueller’s office also said that Person A, who has been previously identified as Konstantin Kilimnik, a Kiev-based operative believed to have Russian intelligence ties, separately tried to contact another person, described as Person D1, via encrypted text messages in an attempt to explain that Manafort was trying to reach him. To reach Person D1, though, Person A went through another unidentified individual, Person D2, who has told Mueller‘s team he handled press strategy for the Hapsburg group.

The indictment returned earlier this year accused Manafort of secretly hiring the “SUPER VIP” group as part of his lobbying campaign on behalf of Yanukovych.

The encrypted messages were sent via WhatsApp and Telegram, a summary filed by the government said.

Manafort is facing two criminal cases lodged by Mueller’s prosecutors. In Washington, he is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 17 on charges of money laundering and violating the Foreign Agent Registration Act in connection with his Ukraine-related work.

Separately, Manafort faces charges of tax evasion and bank fraud in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia. That criminal trial is slated to begin July 24. For more, please see the hyperlink below: