Mueller accuses Manafort of witness tampering

Federal prosecutors accused former Trump presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort of witness tampering late Monday in his tax and lobbying case and asked a federal judge to consider revoking or revising his release pending trial.

In a late Monday filing in Washington, prosecutors accused Manafort and a longtime associate they previously linked to Russian intelligence of repeatedly contacting two members of a public-relations firm since February to secure false testimony about their collective work involving a group of former senior European politicians.

The group, informally called the "Hapsburg group," was secretly retained in 2012 by Manafort to take positions favorable to Ukraine, for whom Manafort was working, prosecutors charged.

In court documents, including an affidavit by FBI agent Brock Domin, prosecutors with special counsel Robert Mueller allege Manafort and his associate tried to contact the two witnesses by phone and through an encrypted messaging program. Court documents do not name Manafort's associate, but they refer to him as "Person A" and note the pseudonym is consistent with previous filings in the case. In earlier filings, Person A has referred to Konstantin Kilimnik, a longtime Manafort associate who prosecutors have said has ties to Russian intelligence.

Manafort, 69, has been on home confinement pending trial.

Domin said that one of the public relations firm executives, identified as Person D1, told the government he "understood Manafort's outreach to be an effort to 'suborn perjury,' " and cause someone knowingly to tell a falsehood in the case by saying the group worked mainly in Europe and to minimize its U.S. work.

According to the court filing, Manafort began messaging and calling one of the witnesses in February shortly after a federal grand jury in Washington returned a superseding indictment against him that included allegations of unregistered lobbying related to the Hapsburg group.

Manafort messaged and called one of the witnesses the day after his codefendant and business partner, Rick Gates, pleaded guilty and continued reaching out over the next several days, according to a sworn affidavit filed by an FBI agent in the case.

In one call, the agent wrote, Manafort said he wanted to give the person a "heads-up about Hapsburg." The individual then hung up "because he was concerned about the outreach," according to the affidavit.

On Feb. 26, Manafort sent the person a series of messages through an encrypted application, including a link to a Business Insider story with the headline: "Former European leaders struggle to explain themselves after Mueller claims Paul Manafort paid them to lobby for Ukraine." Another message said, "We should talk. I have made clear that they worked in Europe."

The person told investigators that he interpreted Manafort's efforts to reach him as a way to influence his potential statements. The person believed from his experience that the Hapsburg group lobbied in the United States and knew that Manafort knew that as well, the agent wrote.

Manafort has pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy, money laundering, and bank and tax fraud in connection with his work for a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician and political party.

Spokesmen for Manafort and the special counsel's office declined to comment on the filings.

This article contains information from the Associated Press.