Ex-head of Trump's campaign headquarters may be imprisoned due to pressure on witnesses

Former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort made several attempts to influence witnesses in the cases opened against him, writes “Voice of America"with reference to a statement from prosecutors.

The prosecution appealed to the federal judge with a request to change the preventive measure to Manafor, who is under house arrest.

In the documents submitted to the court, prosecutors working for Special Prosecutor Robert Muller wrote that Manafort and his associate “repeatedly” went out to two witnesses in an attempt to influence their testimony.

Special Prosecutor Robert Muller. Photo: YouTube / The Telegraph video frame

Contact occurred earlier this year, shortly after a grand jury brought a new charge to Manaforte, while he was confined to the walls of his house.

In court documents the name of the ally is not called - it appears in them as "Face A". At the same time, prosecutors noted that this pseudonym was used in relation to the same person and in previous documents on the case.

In previous documents, Konstantin Kilimnik was called “Face A” - a long-time ally of Manafort, who, according to the prosecutors, is associated with Russian intelligence.

The names of two witnesses are also not mentioned in court documents. However, the prosecution notes that they worked with Manafort to create an organization of former European officials, the so-called “Hapsburg Group,” which promoted the interests of Ukraine in Europe and the USA.

According to court documents, Manafort began sending messages and calling one of the witnesses in February, shortly after the federal grand jury in Washington issued a new indictment containing charges of unregistered lobbying activities related to the Habsburg group.

Calls began a day after the co-respondent for his case and business partner Rick Gates admitted his guilt. These attempts continued for several days, according to the affidavit of the FBI agent in this case, given under oath.

The witness told investigators that he interpreted Manafort’s desire to contact him as an attempt to influence his possible testimony.

As the FBI agent pointed out, the witness knew from his experience that the Hapsburg Group was engaged in lobbying activities in the United States, and it was also known that Manafort was aware of this.

Recall that the cost of the investigation of Russia's interference in the elections in the US by special prosecutor Robert Muller, which lasted a year, was $ 16,7 million.

Müller's investigation

US intelligence agencies suspect the Kremlin has intervened in the United States presidential election campaign to help Donald Trump win the 2016 election of the year.

Appointed in May 2017 by the US Department of Justice, Special Attorney and former FBI Director Robert Muller, as well as several congressional committees deal investigating whether there were attempts by the Russian authorities to intervene in the 2016 election of the year, as well as a search for alleged contacts between Moscow and those associated with Donald Trump's campaign headquarters.

What Special Prosecutor Muller managed for the year of investigation of the Russian interference can be found in our article.