UPDATE 2:
UPDATE: Prosecutors appears to have filed accidentally an unredacted exhibit detailing some of the communication from Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik, who also is charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice, to Friedman and Sager, confirming their involvement.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team has introduced new evidence debunking Paul Manafort's claim he wasn't illegally lobbying for Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in the United States.
In a public court filing, Mueller's team released two memos from 2013 detailing Manafort's involvement in efforts to influence debate in Congress and in the U.S. press about the imprisonment of Yanukovych's main political rival, Yulia Tymoshenko.
Manafort is facing a September trial on charges that he violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act by failing to register with the Justice Department in connection with the lobbying campaign, among other charges.
Manafort also faces new charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice for alleged witness tampering and will be arraigned Friday.
Those [witnesses] — who aren't identified in court documents but appear to be Alan Friedman and Eckart Sager, two former journalists based in Europe — directed efforts by a group of former European politicians to burnish Yanukovych's reputation, according to prosecutors.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson is scheduled to hold a hearing Friday on prosecutors' request to revoke Manafort's house arrest or tighten the restrictions on him as a result of the alleged witness tampering.
Manafort's defense team says his lobbying efforts focused on Europe and his communication with Friedman and Sager is consistent with that. However, Mueller's new filing contradicts this claim.
[T]he memos Mueller submitted Tuesday show an evident attempt by the former European politicians — known as the "Hapsburg group" — to shape the Ukrainian leader's image in the U.S.
In what appears to be an incomplete, draft memo titled "US Consultants — Quarterly Report" and addressed to Yanukovych, Manafort wrote that he had "organized and leveraged the visits of" two Hapsburg group members "to make critical in-roads in how policymakers view Ukraine."
The memo is dated April 22, 2013. Romano Prodi, a former Italian prime minister and a member of the Hapsburg group, had visited Washington and met with Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and congressional staffers the month before.
(...)
The memo, which is clearly written with a desire to play up the impact of Manafort's work for Ukraine in the U.S., goes on to boast about placing op-eds in American publications like the Hill and the Christian Science Monitor and about "pitching our narrative and messaging to key reporters and editors at the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and New York Times."
Another document made public by prosecutors, an email dated March 13, 2013, indicated Manafort was closely involved in Prodi's visit to Washington. One of the people involved detailed meetings Prodi had with Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffers and said Manafort was immediately briefed on the sessions.
"He was in good form and is thrilled with our work and Habsburg," the lobbyist wrote.
Prosecutors say the evidence of the Manafort-led group's U.S. activity is undeniable.
"Manafort’s own words establish the falsity of his representation that the Hapsburg group was 'European-focused,'" Mueller's team wrote, They also seared him for "brazen efforts at corrupt persuasion."
Full story: Mueller unveils more proof Manafort led Ukraine lobbying in U.S. (Politico)