US
Manafort Arraignment Set With Freedom On The Line
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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.
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.”
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