Paul Manafort and Robert Mueller made dueling requests to the D.C. Circuit on Thursday (July 6). Manafort wants to get out of jail, and Mueller wants to keep him there.
Manafort was sent to jail in Virginia on June 15 after Judge Amy Berman Jackson of D.C. district court revoked his bail amid allegations of witness tampering. In February, Manafort allegedly sent multiple text messages and made unreturned calls to at least two witnesses in his case. As Circuit Breaker previously reported, the former chairman of the Trump presidential campaign quickly appealed Jackson’s order to the D.C. Circuit.
Manafort’s new filing calls the witness-tampering allegations “the flimsiest evidence of alleged obstruction” and asks the court to overrule Jackson’s order. The filing also notes that Manafort has been locked up in solitary confinement and spends 23 hours a day alone in his cell. His lawyers complained that the setup was making it “effectively impossible” for Manafort to prepare for both of his trials—the first of which is set to begin July 25 in Virginia, and the second of which is scheduled for September 17 in D.C.
Mueller’s filing emphasizes the dangers posed by Manafort’s alleged obstruction of justice and witness tampering and urges the court to keep the status quo.
Regarding Manafort’s complaint that he can’t effectively prepare for trial, Mueller said Manafort “has not sought any relief from the district court or the government, including the Bureau of Prisons, with respect to confinement conditions” and that “any impact on Manafort’s trial conditions does not support release” anyway.
