Trump aide in jail
WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump’s former election campaign manager Paul Manafort was sent to jail pending trial on Saturday, after being charged with witness tampering, the latest episode in his long fall from grace.
Manafort, a longtime Republican operative and businessman, is a target of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election, and has been indicted on mostly financialrelated charges, including conspiring to launder money and defraud the US.
He pleaded not guilty on those charges and had been on home detention in Virginia.
Mueller last week charged him with witness tampering in the case. Manafort pleaded not guilty to that charge on Saturday but US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington revoked his bail, sending him to jail.
‘‘I have no appetite for this . . . but in the end, I cannot turn a blind eye,’’ she said.
Manafort’s spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.
Trump said it was unfair to send Manafort to jail.
‘‘Wow, what a tough sentence for Paul Manafort,’’ Trump wrote on Twitter.
‘‘Didn’t know Manafort was the head of the Mob,’’ Trump wrote. ‘‘Very unfair!’’
Mueller is looking into whether any Trump campaign associates coordinated with Russia and if Trump unlawfully sought to obstruct the probe. — Reuters