UPDATE: A federal judge has given Paul Manafort until Friday to respond to the government's motion to revise or revoke his bail and ordered all parties back to court Friday June 15th for a hearing.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller said in a court filing on Monday that Manafort had attempted to tamper with potential witnesses and asked the judge to revoke or revise an order releasing Manafort ahead of his trial.
Manafort’s spokesman Jason Maloni denied the allegations.
“Mr. Manafort is innocent and nothing about this latest allegation changes our defense. We will do our talking in court,” Maloni said in a statement on Tuesday.
Ex-Trump aide Manafort faces U.S. hearing over alleged witness tampering (Reuters)
Paul Manafort may end up spending the rest of his time awaiting trial behind bars instead of out on bail.
In court documents, prosecutors working for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, said that Mr. Manafort tried to contact witnesses by phone and through an encrypted messaging program.
Prosecutors said that was a violation of Mr. Manafort’s release while he awaits trial. They asked a federal judge to revise the terms of his release or revoke it entirely, which would send him to jail until trial.
FBI Special Agent Brock Domin, in a declaration filed with Mueller's motion, said Manafort had attempted to call, text and send encrypted messages in February to two people from "The Hapsburg Group," a firm he worked with to promote the interests of Ukraine.
The FBI has documents and statements from the two people, as well as telephone records and documents recovered through a search of Manafort's iCloud account showing that Trump's former campaign manager attempted communication while he was out on bail, according to Domin.
The communications were "in an effort to influence their testimony and to otherwise conceal evidence," Domin wrote. "The investigation into this matter is ongoing."
CNN:
After Manafort's charges were adjusted in DC federal court related to his lobbying work in late February -- on the same day Rick Gates pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about the group -- Manafort called one of the people's cell phones and texted the person encrypted messages, prosecutors say. "We should talk. I have made clear that they worked in Europe," Manafort's text said. He also called the person twice the week after Gates' plea, according to prosecutors.
One of the terms of Manafort's bail and supervised release was that he not commit any crimes. Another Manafort colleague attempted to contact the employees to help Manafort get in touch with them. One of those contacts was an encrypted message that outlined Manafort's "summary," prosecutors said, "that the Hapsburg group never lobbied in the United States."
One of the people told investigators that Manafort's attempts to contact them were "an effort to get them to relay a message to the Hapsburg group: if the members of the Hapsburg group were contacted by anyone, they should say that their lobbying and public relations work was exclusively in Europe -- a representation that would be contrary" to what investigators have found, the prosecutors wrote.
The prosecutors argue that they have "little confidence that restrictions short of detention will assure Manafort's compliance" with the court and keep him from committing more crimes before his trial, the filing said.
Read the Government's Motion (via USA Today)
Mueller Accuses Paul Manafort of Attempted Witness Tampering (NYT)
Manafort attempted to tamper with potential witnesses - U.S. special counsel. (Reuters)