Mueller Accuses Paul Manafort of Attempted Witness Tampering

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors on Monday accused President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, of attempting to tamper with witnesses in his federal tax and money laundering case.

In court documents, prosecutors working for the special counsel, Robert Mueller, said that violated the terms of Manafort’s release while he awaits trial. They asked a federal judge to revise those terms or send him to jail until trial.

Prosecutors said that Manafort tried to contact witnesses by phone, through an intermediary and through an encrypted messaging program. One witness told the FBI that Manafort was trying to “suborn perjury,” prosecutors said. Two witnesses provided the texts to the FBI, which also searched Manafort’s cloud-based Apple account, according to court records.

A lawyer for Manafort did not respond to a message seeking comment. Neither the witnesses nor the intermediaries were named.

Manafort served as Trump’s campaign chairman only briefly, but the relationship continues to haunt the Trump administration. Manafort is accused of violating federal lobbying, tax and money laundering laws as part of a complicated scheme in which he lobbied for a pro-Russia party in Ukraine and hid proceeds in foreign bank accounts.

The witnesses at issue in Monday’s court filing relate to allegations that Manafort secretly retained a group of former European officials to act as lobbyists on issues related to Ukraine. Manafort paid them 2 million euros in 2012 and 2013, according to court documents.

Prosecutors say that was part of a secret lobbying campaign in the United States. Manafort argues the lobbying was focused on the European Union — a key point in his defense.

In court documents, prosecutors accused Manafort of trying to reach members of a public relations firm who could get word to the Europeans and help shape their story. “They should say their lobbying and public relations work was exclusively in Europe,” one of the public relations officials told the FBI according to court documents.

Prosecutors provided the judge a summary of contacts that they said were made from February to April, while Manafort was under house arrest on a $10 million bond.

“We should talk,” Manafort wrote in a WhatsApp message on Feb. 26 to one of the people at the public relations firm. “I have made clear that they worked in Europe.”

When that witness avoided him or hung up, prosecutors said, Manafort worked through an unidentified intermediary.

“Basically P wants to give him a quick summary that he says to everybody (which is true) that our friends never lobbied in the U.S., and the purpose of the program was EU,” the intermediary wrote in a Feb. 28 WhatsApp message, according to court documents.

Then in April, the same intermediary sent a message to another person. “My friend P is looking for ways to connect to you to pass you several messages. Can we arrange that,” the message read, according to court documents.

It is not clear exactly how the authorities learned of the communications, but prosecutors said that the witnesses provided them with copies of the messages in recent weeks.

Prosecutors say Manafort laundered more than $18 million, and spent the money on fine suits, real estate and expensive rugs. The charges are not directly related to Trump’s campaign, and Manafort’s allies have said the case is intended to pressure him to give prosecutors damaging information about the president. Jailing him while he awaits trial would increase that pressure, but Trump’s lawyers say Manafort has nothing incriminating to provide.

Mueller’s team has previously complained about Manafort’s actions while he awaits trial. Prosecutors said last year that Manafort and a longtime associate with ties to Russian intelligence helped draft an op-ed article about his lobbying work.