Newly released court documents show Paul Manafort heavily edited an op-ed designed to paint his political work in Ukraine in a positive light, a violation of U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson's order that both sides in the government's case against Manafort refrain from activity intended to influence public opinion:
[Special Agent Brock] Domin obtained an email from Manafort to his longtime associate Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian-Ukrainian citizen believed to have ties to Russian intelligence. In that email "was a printed copy of the Microsoft Word file attached to Manafort’s e-mail, which contains the draft 'op ed' for Oleg Voloshin," Domin wrote.
"The Microsoft Word document has red tracked changes, of which 'paul manafort' is listed as the electronic author."
The author of the op-ed, which was published by the Kyiv Post on Thursday, was Oleg Voloshyn, a former spokesman for Ukraine’s ministry of foreign affairs under the pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.
Voloshin initially told Bloomberg that Manafort had "absolutely nothing to do" with the article.
On Monday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team refused to sign off on Paul Manafort's bail agreement that would have released Manafort from house arrest and let him travel between designated states in exchange for putting up $11.65 million in real estate:
They concluded that because Manafort's conduct "raises serious concerns about his trustworthiness," the court should deny the motion to release him from home confinement.
"Bail is fundamentally about trust," they wrote.
Manafort's defense team argued Thursday that Manafort had the right to defend himself in writing under the First Amendment, but that at the same time, he did not author the editorial in question.
Voloshin told Reuters he showed the article to Kilimnik who forwarded it to Manafort:
"I didn't want to write any stupid things in it that would worsen his (Manafort's) already difficult position," Voloshyn said. "I sent the text to Kilimnik and it was Kilimnik's idea to send it to Paul (Manafort) for a look."
"He (Kilimnik) sent it back to me with some comments and suggestions. Whether these were his comments and suggestions or Paul's suggestions is not a question I can answer," he said.
Voloshyn said allegations of Kilimnik's ties to Russia were groundless and that Kilimnik, whom Reuters has not been able to reach, did not want to talk to news media.
Voloshyn said he was prepared to testify that he had no direct contact with Manafort in the run-up to the publication of the article, which praised Manafort's work promoting European Union-Ukraine relations and said he lobbied for pro-Western values, not Russian interests.
Mueller Supplemental Declaration
Oleg Voloshin: Paul Manafort, European integration’s unknown soldier for Ukraine (Kyiv Post)
New court filings show Manafort made substantial edits to Ukraine op-ed he denied ghost-writing (Business Insider)
Ukrainian Author of Manafort Op-Ed Says Sought Input to Avoid Errors (Reuters)