Paul Manafort who used to be Donald Trump’s campaign manager jailed after judge revokes his bail, Financial Times reported.
Trump’s former campaign’s chief jailed after he was accused of sending WhatsApp messages in an effort to influence witness testimony in Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. After a judge revoked Manafort’s bail on Friday, the 69-year-old man was sent to jail in Virginia, pending a trial. Mr Manafort had been confined to his home in the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia and forced to wear a GPS monitoring device since October.
So far, the prosecutors allege he tried to influence what potential witnesses might testify about his lobbying work with Ukraine. According to the former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman, Manafort’s advanced age and the precedent set by the hefty sentences handed to one of the Watergate burglars in a bid to make him cooperate meant he faces the possibility, if convicted, of spending the rest of his life in prison.
Mr Trump tweeted on Friday to call the decision to jail Manafort ‘tough’, while a federal grand jury indicted Manafort and a long-time associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, last week on charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice, adding to the multiple felony counts he already faced.
The principal evidence- WhatsApp messages, which were followed by texts and calls- were an ‘effort to influence [witness] testimony and to otherwise conceal evidence’, the FBI said.
Manafort had repeatedly requested to end his home confinement in exchange for pledging $10 million in real estate as collateral – which Judge Jackson had rebuffed.
