UPDATE: Courthouse News:
But by Tuesday evening, Manafort’s attorney Kevin Downing had a change of heart, writing to Judge Ellis that “in light of [Paul Manafort’s] continuing detention and after further reflection, issues of distance and inconvenience must yield to concerns about his safety and more importantly, the challenges he will face in adjusting to a new place of confinement and the changing circumstances of detention two weeks before trial.”
The about face from Downing also comes fresh on the heels of yet another order by Ellis made on Tuesday.
Ellis gave special counsel Robert Mueller’s team until Friday evening to respond to Manafort’s request to move his trial from Alexandria to Roanoke.
Manafort, In Change of Heart, Wants to Forego Jail Change (Courthouse News)
The U.S. Marshals Service is moving former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort from the Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Virginia to a detention center Alexandria, Virginia.
U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis, who is overseeing Manafort’s Alexandria, Virginia, trial on tax and bank fraud charges, ordered that his chambers be notified by the U.S. Marshals Service once Manafort is moved.
In addition to the tax and bank fraud charges, Manafort also faces criminal charges of money laundering, failing to register as a foreign agent and witness tampering. The latter charge, which involved witnesses related to the other charges, prompted the Washington-based federal judge overseeing those charges to order him jailed. He has been at the Northern Neck Regional Jail since June 15.
Late last month, Manafort appealed the judge’s order to jail him, arguing that evidence that he sought to tamper with witnesses is “thin—to be generous” and that his jailing in solitary confinement “gravely impairs Mr. Manafort’s ability to prepare his defense.”
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors countered Manafort's appeal by saying they had offered to move him to a facility closer to his attorneys but that his defense team had not accepted that solution.
Manafort's defense also has requested a change of venue from Alexandria to Roanoke, arguing the intensity of media coverage of his case in and around DC would prohibit his ability to get a fair trial.
Judge orders Manafort to be moved to detention center in Alexandria, Va. (Politico)