Manafort loses bid to stay in ‘VIP’ jail, could face evidence from 1980s

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort may face evidence at trial about alleged wrongdoing in the 1980s and lost a bid to stay at a jail where he said he was being treated like a “VIP,” court papers yesterday showed.

The developments came as Manafort gets closer to two trials where he will defend himself against a number of charges ranging from bank fraud to failing to register as a foreign agent for lobbying work for pro-Russia politicians in Ukraine.

Manafort’s prosecution arose out of U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. One trial is set for July 25 in Alexandria, Virginia, and the second case in Washington, D.C., has a Sept. 17 trial date.

Judge T.S. Ellis, who is overseeing the Alexandria case, ordered a hearing for Tuesday to weigh motions by Manafort to move the first trial to a more Trumpfriendly area of Virginia and to postpone it until after the Washington trial was done. In a filing to Ellis on Wednesday, Mueller’s prosecutors laid out their case for no delay. Contrary to Manafort’s assertions, the prosecutors argued that his jail, while located two hours from Washington, had provided him with ample access to his lawyers and had not hindered his preparation for trial.