Manafort’s attempt to reach witnesses threatens jail time
NEWARK, N.J. — Paul Manafort’s attempts to contact witnesses in his criminal case not only deepens his legal peril, but also sends a chilling message to others under special counsel Robert Mueller’s scrutiny.
Already charged with multiple crimes, Manafort attempted early this year to get people at a public relations firm to lie about a lobbying project several years earlier, Mueller’s office said Monday. That, prosecutors said, amounted to attempted witness-tampering by President Donald Trump’s onetime campaign chairman.
Ratcheting up the pressure on Manafort, Mueller’s team is asking a judge to review his house arrest and to consider jailing him as he awaits trial this summer. Manafort, under constant surveillance, used encrypted messaging channels to obscure that he had organized pro-Ukraine lobbying in the U.S. as well as Europe, prosecutors said. The call records and text messages they presented suggest a corrupt intent, essentially that Manafort was attempting to cover up improper lobbying in the U.S.
“Mueller’s action should send a message loud and clear — as Mueller’s prosecutions of false statements should — that Mueller takes extremely seriously attempts to distort our system of justice and the rule of law,” said former Manhattan federal prosecutor Mimi Rocah.
It’s a warning to anyone questioned by his team who fabricates stories or tries to coordinate a cover-up. While the full extent of Mueller’s inquiry isn’t clear, he’s questioning others about their accounts of key meetings. These include a preelection Trump Tower gathering attended by a Russian lawyer and a pre-inauguration meeting in the Seychelles that included a Trump associate, Erik Prince, and the head of a Russian wealth fund. Mueller may not yet have posed questions about such meetings to Trump family members or key confidantes.
Prosecutors said a key participant in the effort to whitewash Manafort’s lobbying work was his longtime associate in Ukraine, a person who people familiar with the matter identified as Konstantin Kilimnik. Kilimnik had worked with Manafort in Ukraine for a decade. But by February, when their flurry of texts and calls began, he appeared to be a risky ally given contemporary reports about his links to Russian intelligence and U.S. filings that showed Mueller had access to some of the pair’s conversations.
Jason Maloni, a spokesman, said Manafort is innocent. “Nothing about this latest allegation changes our defense. We will do our talking in court,” Maloni said.
A hearing is scheduled for June 15 in federal court in Washington, on Mueller’s request to revoke Manafort’s $10 million bail over the witnesstampering allegations and consider tightening his pre-trial supervision program. Manafort is also defending against charges of tax and bank fraud in federal court in Alexandria, Va.
Mueller’s filing fleshes out the Ukrainian advocacy that prosecutors say Manafort failed to register in violation of U.S. lobbying laws. As part of his effort, Manafort lined up former European political luminaries to work in secret on behalf of Ukraine and Manafort’s client, then-President Viktor Yanokovych.