Mueller Challenges Manafort’s Bail After Finding ‘Newly Discovered’ Evidence
Mueller charges that Manafort wrote an op-ed with a Russian intelligence operative just last week.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office is challenging Paul Manafort’s release on bail after finding “newly discovered facts [that] cast doubt on Manafort’s willingness to comply with this Court’s Orders.”
Mueller is alleging that just last week, Manafort ghostwrote an op-ed for a “long-time Russian colleague” who is “currently based in Russia and assessed to have ties to a Russian intelligence service.”
In the court filing, Mueller’s team argues that the op-ed violates an admonishment from the judge last month to refrain from public statements.
“Even if the ghostwritten op-ed were entirely accurate, fair, and balanced, it would be a violation of this Court’s November 8 Order if it had been published,” the prosecutors wrote. “The editorial clearly was undertaken to influence the public’s opinion of defendant Manafort, or else there would be no reason to seek its publication (much less for Manafort and his long-time associate to ghostwrite it in another’s name).”
According to the filing, Manafort worked on the op-ed as late as November 30, after he was indicted by the Special Counsel.
Mueller asked the court for GPS monitoring and a “fully secured bond of unencumbered real estate.”
