Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit not to disturb a lower court's order last month jailing Paul Manafort. | Alex Wong/Getty Images Mueller fights Manafort's bid for release from Virginia jail

Special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors are urging a federal appeals court to reject former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's bid to be released on bail as he prepares for two criminal trials, including one set to begin later this month.

In a filing Thursday, Mueller's team urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit not to disturb a lower court's order last month jailing Manafort over charges that he tampered with witnesses related to the cases against him.


Prosecutors encouraged the judges to reject Manafort's argument that the witness tampering allegations against him are less worrisome than in some other cases because no threat of force was involved.

"That argument vastly understates the seriousness of the conduct that prompted Manafort’s detention," Mueller's lawyers wrote. "That conduct is no less damaging to the justice system when committed through covert corrupt persuasion than through overt violence."

An updated indictment filed against Manafort last month accused him of reaching out to two former colleagues, Alan Friedman and Eckart Sager, in an attempt to have them say that a Ukraine-related lobbying campaign they worked on was focused on Europe, not the U.S. Manafort has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Breaking News Alerts Get breaking news when it happens — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Prosecutors insist the campaign to advance the interests of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his political party did target U.S. officials and thus should have been registered with the Justice Department.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson — who oversees the criminal case Manafort faces in Washington over charges of money laundering, failing to register as a foreign agent and the new witness tampering charges — canceled the veteran lobbyist's house arrest on June 15 and ordered him into federal custody. He's been held since at the Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Virginia, about two hours' drive south of Washington.

Prosecutors revealed in their court filing Thursday that they have offered "orally and in writing" to try to have Manafort moved closer to the Washington area. Mueller's team said Manafort's attorneys never responded to the request.

A spokesman for Manafort declined to comment, but Manafort's attorneys have complained in court filings that he's being held in solitary confinement and that the distance from Washington is complicating trial preparation.

Manafort's trial in Virginia on tax evasion, bank fraud and failure to report foreign bank accounts is set to begin on July 25. The D.C. case is set to follow on Sept. 17.

Prosecutors suggested in their submission Thursday that Eckart and Sager, who ran a public relations firm called FBC Media, could be called as witnesses in the Virginia case. Mueller's filing stopped short of saying the two men are on the witness list for the case, but said they should be considered witnesses for that part of the investigation because they "were paid through Manafort-controlled offshore accounts" related to the tax and foreign-account charges at issue in the Virginia prosecution.