Politics

Manafort Arraignment Set With Freedom On The Line

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Kevin Daley Supreme Court correspondent
Font Size:

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort will be arraigned at a federal court in Washington, D.C., Friday in connection with a new set of indictments that allege he tampered with witnesses.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson set the arraignment date Monday.

The new indictment named Manafort and an associate named Konstantin Kilimnik in a scheme to convince witnesses to lie to investigators. Kilimnik is a businessman who may have connections to Russian intelligence. The allegations are set out in detail in a remarkable motion filed in early June.

The witness tampering allegations are the third set of charges issued against Manafort. He has also been indicted for bank fraud, conspiracy against the United States, lying to investigators, and violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. (RELATED: Mueller Moves To Revoke Manafort’s Bail For Alleged Witness Tampering)

Special counsel Robert Mueller has also asked the court to revoke Manafort’s bail, claiming the alleged witness tampering jeopardizes the integrity of his trial. The former Trump aide is confined to house arrest and must wear a GPS monitoring anklet.

“The new charge of witness tampering made by the special counsel should be seen for what it is: an attempt to derail the modified conditions of release at the eleventh hour,” Manafort lawyer Kevin Downing wrote in a court filing responding to the allegations. “The court should not condone such heavy-handed gamesmanship by the special counsel.”

Follow Kevin on Twitter

Send tips to kevin@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.