Manafort, Russian fixer charged with obstruction
US Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed charges on Friday against a political operative with alleged ties to Russian intelligence, bringing his probe into possible collusion by the Trump presidential campaign a step closer to the Kremlin’s door.
The indictment, filed by Mueller in District of Columbia federal court, included new counts against Trump’s former campaign chair Paul Manafort and the operative, Manafort aide Konstantin Kilimnik, for tampering with witnesses about their lobbying for Ukraine.
It was the third time Mueller had added to charges against Manafort since he was indicted in October. Manafort has pleaded not guilty to a raft of charges, from money-laundering, to failing to register as a foreign agent, to bank and tax fraud.
The additional charges could add to pressure on Manafort to cut a deal and cooperate with Mueller’s probe, legal experts said. Manafort has longstanding ties to a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine and a Russian oligarch close to the Kremlin.
But more significantly Friday’s indictment marked the first time that Kilimnik, who in previous court filings was referred to only as ‘Person A’, was named. Mueller has said Kilimnik has links to Russian spy agencies, an allegation Kilimnik denies.
Kilimnik did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Manafort and his lawyers have disputed the charges against him.
The disclosure could alter the way the public perceives Mueller’s investigation, said former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti. Trump has repeatedly denounced the probe as a ‘witch hunt’ and denied any collusion took place.
“This indictment could be very important from a political perspective,” said Mariotti, a Democrat who is running for Illinois attorney-general.
“You now have the former chairman of the Trump campaign charged with conspiring with a suspected Russian intelligence operative. That’s quite astounding.”
In a court filing earlier this week, Mueller asked the judge overseeing the case in the District of Columbia to revoke or revise an order releasing Manafort ahead of trial due to the allegations of witness tampering. Manafort’s lawyers had been given a deadline of Friday to respond to those charges.
Mueller has accused Manafort of attempting to call, text and send encrypted messages in February to two people from ‘The Hapsburg Group’, a political discussion group he allegedly worked with to promote the interests of Ukraine, in an effort to influence their testimony or conceal evidence in the case.
Mueller’s office said the government had “developed substantial evidence showing that the Hapsburg group performed a variety of lobbying tasks in the United States,” which included disseminating ghostwritten articles in the media and arranging meetings with US officials and politicians. — Reuters