M’fort faces jail for ‘witness tampering’

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort made several attempts to tamper with witnesses in his ongoing criminal cases, prosecutors said Monday as they asked a federal judge to consider revoking his house arrest.

In a court filing, prosecutors working for special counsel Robert Mueller wrote that Manafort and one of his associates “repeatedly” contacted two witnesses in an effort to influence their testimony. The contacts occurred earlier this year, shortly after a grand jury returned a new indictment against Manafort (inset) and while he was confined to his home.

Court documents refer to Manafort’s associate as “Person A” and note the pseudonym is consistent with previous filings in the case. In earlier filings, Person A has referred to Konstantin Kilimnik, a longtime Manafort associate who prosecutors have said has ties to Russian intelligence.

The two witnesses are also not named, but prosecutors say they worked with Manafort in organizing a group of former European officials known as the Hapsburg Group, who promoted Ukrainian interests in Europe and the United States.

Manafort began messaging and calling one of the witnesses in February shortly after a federal grand jury in Washington returned a superseding indictment against him that included allegations of unregistered lobbying related to the Hapsburg Group, according to the filing.

Manafort faces several felony charges in two federal cases. He has pleaded not guilty.