Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is asking a federal appeals court to order his release in advance of two upcoming criminal trials where he's set to face charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Manafort had been under house arrest at his Alexandria, Virginia condo since last October, but a judge in Washington ordered him jailed earlier this month after he was charged with attempting to tamper with the testimony of two men who helped orchestrate what prosecutors say was a unregistered lobbying campaign for Ukraine several years ago.


The new request filed Thursday night with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals says that Manafort poses a threat to no one and that the evidence he engaged in witness tampering is "thin—to be generous."

"The detention order gravely impairs Mr. Manafort’s ability to prepare his defense in the two federal criminal trials that are set to begin imminently," Manafort's defense lawyers wrote. "Mr. Manafort—a 69-year-old man facing criminal charges in two complex federal cases—is now being housed in solitary confinement, locked in his cell for 24 hours per day (excluding visits from his attorneys), at a facility that is approximately two hours away from his legal team in Washington, D.C. Under these circumstances, it is impossible to prepare for his upcoming trials."

Manafort is set to go on trial July 25 in Alexandria on charges of bank fraud, tax evasion and failing to report foreign bank accounts. A trial for the veteran lobbyist and political consultant on a separate federal indictment for money laundering, failing to register as a foreign agent and, now, witness tampering, is set for Sept. 17 in Washington.

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When revoking Manafort's release, D.C.-based U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said he had violated the Alexandria-based judge's order that the former Trump campaign official have no contact "directly or indirectly with any person who is a victim or witness in the investigation or prosecution of the defendant." She also said the revised indictment a grand jury returned charging Manafort with witness tampering meant it was established for bail purposes that there was probable cause to believe that Manafort committed those crimes, violating another standard bail condition that defendants not commit any crime while on pretrial release.


Manafort's defense argues that Jackson was wrong on both counts. They contend that the restriction the Alexandria-based judge, T.S. Ellis III, imposed on witness contact applied only to witnesses related to the specific charges there, not the broader Mueller-led probe into Manafort's activities. Defense attorneys also contend that Jackson had a duty to weigh the evidence against Manafort, which the defense says is shaky.

The witness-tampering claims that triggered Friday’s hearing revolve around Manafort's alleged efforts to shape the accounts of two men who advised on a Ukraine-focused public relations and lobbying campaign — Alan Friedman and Eckart Sager.

Prosecutors contend that Manafort and a longtime associate alleged to have ties to Russian intelligence services, Konstantin Kilimnik, reached out to Friedman and Sager via phone calls, text messages and encrypted apps beginning in February, soon after a revised set of charges against Manafort included mention of the lobbying effort Friedman and Sager organized.

Manafort's lawyers say prosecutors are distorting the nature of those contacts and exaggerating their significance. They note that all of Manafort's alleged direct contacts with Friedman and Sager took place in February, before the no-contact order was issued in the Virginia case.


After Jackson ordered marshals to take Manafort into custody on June 15, he's been held at the Northern Neck Regional Jail, which is about two hours' drive south of Washington. Jail records show he was placed in a "VIP" wing which keeps him isolated from other inmates.

One complication Manafort faces is that even if the D.C. Circuit orders his release, the judge in the Virginia case, Ellis, could still order Manafort jailed over his alleged violation of the no-contact order or for other reasons. Ellis answers to a different federal appeals court, the Richmond-based 4th Circuit. As the result of the charges pending in the two different federal courts, Manafort was wearing two different GPS devices to track his movements before he was ordered to jail on June 15.