Judge orders Manafort to jail while awaiting money laundering and fraud trials

Kevin Johnson | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Indicted and influential: Who is Paul Manafort? Paul Manafort is a lobbyist, political consultant, lawyer and President Trump's former campaign chairman. Manafort has been indicted on money laundering, tax evasion and obstruction of justice charges. He is currently incarcerated awaiting trial.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Friday ordered former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to jail to await separate trials on money laundering and fraud charges following allegations that he sought to obstruct the Russia inquiry while he was on house arrest.

Immediately after U.S. District Judge Amy Jackson revoked Manafort's bail, he was led from a packed courtroom by U.S. marshals. Meanwhile, Manafort’s wife, Kathleen, left the courthouse, forced to walk a gauntlet of photographers to the door of a black SUV. The family made no comment.

If convicted at trial, Manafort faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in custody.

In a lengthy preamble to her ruling, the judge expressed clear frustration with Manafort’s conduct, saying that there appeared to be no terms of release that she believed the defendant would follow.

“This is not middle school,” Jackson said at one point. “I can’t take his cell phone....I have thought long and hard about this. I don’t think I can draft a clear enough order” setting out conditions of Manafort’s continuing release.

Manafort, who just two summers ago was celebrating then-candidate Donald Trump's nomination at the Republican National Convention, was charged last week along with Russian business associate Konstantin Kilimnik as part of an alleged scheme to tamper with two witnesses in the existing cases against him.

Prosecutors have asserted that the alleged obstruction effort, in which Manafort and Kilimnik sought to coach the testimony of the two unidentified witnesses, required the revocation of Manafort's bail, sending him to jail to await a July trial in Alexandria, Va., on bank fraud charges and a separate September trial in Washington, D.C., where he faces a vast money laundering and fraud conspiracy.

Investigators have claimed that the "repeated" contacts occurred while Manafort was under house arrest in Virginia, as a condition of his release.

The witnesses worked with Manafort in organizing a group of former European officials who lobbied within the United States without registering as required by law.

The witnesses told investigators that they "understood" that Manafort was reaching out to influence the testimony, according to court papers.

More: Ex-Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, Russian associate hit with obstruction charges

More: Prosecutors: Paul Manafort tried to coach witnesses in criminal case

Earlier Friday, federal prosecutors representing Russia special counsel Robert Mueller and Manafort’s attorneys clashed in court, with prosecutors arguing that the former Trump aide deserved to be jailed for “committing a crime while on bail.”

“The danger is that Mr. Manafort will continue to commit crimes,” prosecutor Greg Andres told the judge.

Manafort attorney Richard Westling said his client had "no way of knowing" that his contacts involved potential trial witnesses, and he asked that Manafort be provided a list of witnesses so that he would know who to avoid.

"A clear no-contact rule will solve the problem," Westling argued. "This will never happen again."

Andres countered that it was "inconceivable" that Manafort would not know who would be witnesses against him.

President Trump, meanwhile, sought to distance himself Friday from his former adviser.

“Manafort has nothing to do with our campaign,” Trump told reporters gathered at the White House. “I feel a little badly about it. They went back 12 years to get things that he did 12 years ago?

“I don’t think it’s right,” Trump said.

But the president declined to say directly whether he believes Manafort or others who are part of Mueller’s probe should be pardoned.

“I don’t want to talk about that,” the president said. “I do want to see people treated fairly.”

Later, Trump took to Twitter to lament Manafort's jailing.

"Wow, what a tough sentence for Paul Manafort, who has represented Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and many other top political people and campaigns," Trump tweeted. "Didn’t know Manafort was the head of the Mob. What about Comey and Crooked Hillary and all of the others? Very unfair!"

Wow, what a tough sentence for Paul Manafort, who has represented Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and many other top political people and campaigns. Didn’t know Manafort was the head of the Mob. What about Comey and Crooked Hillary and all of the others? Very unfair! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2018

Contributing: John Fritze