Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, leaves the federal courthouse on Monday in Washington. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Judge considers conditions to release Manafort and Gates Prosecutor says bond package for Manafort may be agreed to by mid-week.

The judge handling the case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort suggested at a hearing Monday that prosecutors from special counsel Robert Mueller's office are being too lenient in negotiating a bail package with Manafort and his associate, Rick Gates.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said her inclination was to impose stricter conditions on Manafort and Gates than the prosecution team was proposing, but she said she might acquiesce after she gets details of the agreement defense lawyers are trying to strike with Mueller's team.


A magistrate judge put Manafort and Gates in home confinement last week after they were arraigned on charges including money laundering and failing to register as foreign agents.

Manafort agreed to pay $10 million if he failed to appear in court and Gates agreed to pay $5 million, but Jackson said those promises don't amount to much.

"There's not really much assurance in that," the judge said.

Prosecutors and the defense have been working to craft sets of property that could be pledged to the court and agreements with family members to guarantee payment of certain amounts if the defendants were to flee.

"I think, for Mr. Manafort, we're getting close," prosecutor Greg Andres said, predicting a deal on his bond package within two days.

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At one point during Monday's session, the judge said she wanted an explanation for why prosecutors appeared willing to "forgo" putting Manafort and Gates on GPS monitoring.

"That I have juxtaposed with multiple pleadings telling me that [the defendants are] a flight risk," Jackson said.

Andres said that it was the government's view that, once the defendants had surrendered their passports and posted a sufficient bond, "we didn't think the GPS monitoring was required."

Jackson said that if a proper package of property and financial guarantees were posted, she would allow the men out of home confinement. However, she said she was inclined to require continued GPS monitoring, impose a curfew and to limit their travel to airports.

"That's where I was headed, but I will keep an open mind," she said.

The judge said she appreciated Manafort's offer to post three properties—a Trump Tower condo, another apartment in New York's Chinatown and a home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. — but she said the valuations of the properties and the amounts of outstanding mortgages was still not clear.

"That a good start, but it doesn't begin to comply" with court rules for bonds, Jackson said.

The judge, an appointee of President Barack Obama, also said she was skeptical about offers to have Manafort's wife, Kathleen, and one of his daughters, Andrea, offer personal guarantees of funds as part of the bond package.

"To me, a family member serving as a surety is problematical," the judge said.

Both Manafort and Gates were present at the 45-minute hearing Monday, their third court appearance in the past week.

In a court filing last week, Gates's lawyers asked that he be permitted to travel overseas as part of his consulting work.

Jackson said not to expect that.

"I'm certainly very disinclined to permit international travel," the judge said.

On Friday, Jackson suggested a May 7 trial date for the case, but she did not finalize that Monday. Instead, she set another hearing for Dec. 11.

Jackson has said she's considering a gag order in the case, but there was no public discussion of that Monday. The judge did convene a discussion at the bench for more than five minutes at the end of Monday's session to talk about what she called "the form of pleadings" in the case. A white noise machine was turned on, obscuring the conversation from members of the public and press in the gallery.