Washington: Paul Manafort has been treated like a "VIP" in jail, with a private bathroom and shower, a personal laptop and phone, and access to a meeting space for his legal team, Special Counsel Robert Mueller told a judge.

That may have just come to an end.

Paul Manafort, a prison VIP. Credit:AP

President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman will be transferred from a federal lockup in Warsaw, Virginia, to a jail in Alexandria, where Manafort is set to go on trial July 25 on bank fraud and tax charges. His lawyers had cited concerns about his safety in trying to block the transfer, but U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III didn't buy it.

The Alexandria jail is "very familiar with housing high-profile defendant including foreign and domestic terrorists, spies and traitors," Ellis said. The judge added that Manafort's "access to counsel and his ability to prepare for trial trumps his personal comfort."