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Paul Manafort: Trump's ex-chair hit with new obstruction of justice charges

Mueller’s office confirms Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik indicted on charges following allegations of witness tampering

A federal grand jury handed down new charges Friday against former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who already faces five felony charges and was accused in court documents Monday of attempted witness tampering in his case.

The latest charges against Manafort came less than four months after his former business associate, Richard Gates III, agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The government moved to revoke Manafort’s bail on Monday, alleging that he had sought to influence witnesses in his case with contacts by phone and through an encrypted messaging program.

Prosecutors backed up the allegation with Friday’s charges, alleging that Manafort and a Russian-Ukrainian associate, Konstantin Kilimnick, “conspired to corruptly persuade” two unnamed witnesses in the case to alter or cancel planned testimony.

Manafort has doggedly asserted his innocence as prosecutors have released waves of evidence of an alleged scheme by him, Gates and others to launder money they were paid for political consulting work in Ukraine, Europe and elsewhere. The government accuses Manafort of dodging taxes, failing to register as a foreign agent while working in Washington on behalf of foreign governments, and other charges.

Prosecutors assert that Mr. Manafort’s fight included trying to shape the accounts that former business partners offered prosecutors. In court filings this week, they said that starting in late February, Mr. Manafort repeatedly tried to reach the two journalists — with whom he had fallen out of contact until recently — to coordinate their accounts about their work to tamp down international criticism of Mr. Yanukovych for corruption, persecuting rivals and pivoting toward Russia and its president, Vladimir V. Putin. The prosecutors did not name the journalists, but three people familiar with the project identified them as Alan Friedman and Eckart Sager.

Both men fended off the overtures, which included phone calls and encrypted text messages from Mr. Manafort and a longtime associate, whom prosecutors have not named but was identified by people close to Mr. Manafort as Konstantin V. Kilimnik, a former Russian Army linguist who prosecutors claim has ties to Russian intelligence.

Instead of engaging, Mr. Friedman and Mr. Sager informed Mr. Mueller’s team of the efforts to reach them, according to prosecutors. Mr. Friedman accused Mr. Manafort of trying to “suborn perjury” by persuading him to lie to investigators, according to a declaration by an F.B.I. agent on the case. Neither Mr. Friedman nor Mr. Sager could be reached for comment.

The prosecutors are arguing that because of these allegations, a federal judge should revise the terms of Mr. Manafort’s bail or even send him to jail while he awaits trial. Mr. Manafort, who posted a $10 million bond and has been confined to his home since October, has until Friday at midnight to respond to the prosecutors’ accusations. His spokesman brushed aside prosecutors’ allegations of witness tampering, but declined to comment on Mr. Manafort’s relationship with Mr. Friedman and Mr. Sager.

They join a growing list of lobbyists, consultants and lawyers who worked on various contracts related to Mr. Yanukovych’s government, political party or supporters and are now cooperating with the government’s prosecution of Mr. Manafort. His associates say he was most stung by the decision of his longtime business partner, Rick Gates, who served as Mr. Trump’s former deputy presidential campaign manager, to cooperate as part of a deal in which he pleaded guilty to financial fraud and lying to investigators.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told reporters that Trump doesn’t need advice on pardoning himself.

“He obviously knows that would not be something that he would or should do," McConnell said. "They were having an academic discussion about whether it’s possible. I don’t know the answer to that."

McConnell also signaled support for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who Trump has repeatedly criticized for recusing himself from the Russia probe. “I hope he’ll remain in the job,” McConnell said.

Most Republicans say there isn’t any evidence yet that Trump did anything illegal or impeachable.

But Graham said the dangling of pardons in the Watergate investigation was part of the impeachment articles considered against President Richard Nixon before he resigned.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, one of many Republicans who voted to convict Clinton in 1999 on a charge of obstruction of justice, didn’t sound impressed when asked about the legal theory a president could not obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer and would be obstructing himself.

“Nobody is above the law. Otherwise we wouldn’t have a system of laws,” Grassley said.

Pointing out that "it is not obstruction when the government decides to stop pursuing an investigation" is not saying that anyone is above the law.

Paul Manafort= today's version of Jeb Stuart Magruder.