Paul Manafort (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
As Paul Manafort’s criminal case moves forward, the former Trump campaign chair may soon be trading his luxury pad for a jail cell if prosecutors have their way. Yesterday, Mueller’s team asked Judge Amy Berman Jackson to reconsider the bail agreement in the case — an agreement that would allow Manafort to venture out beyond the constricting walls of his dream home — after the team pieced together that Manafort ghost wrote an op-ed that, they say, was designed to sway public opinion about his work with Ukraine, the heart of the charges against him, to his favor.
For a guy who thought he was about to get back a small measure of freedom, this is a real punch in the ol’ “breadbasket of Europe.”
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From CNN’s Katelyn Polantz:
The filing asks for the court to revisit a bail agreement Mueller’s office and Manafort’s lawyers made jointly last week. The court had not yet approved a change to his $10 million unsecured bail and house arrest.
“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,” 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).”
For added flavor, that “long-time associate” is described as someone “assessed to have ties” to Russian spies. Wow.
To borrow a phrase going around, this really is “Dumb Watergate.” If the assertions in the filing are true, a guy who was already in custody thought he could work with a suspected Russian spy asset to slip something past the goalie by signing it “I.P. Freelyovich”? How goddamned stupid are these people?
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What exactly did the author (whether Manafort or not) hope to accomplish? It’s doubtful that Bob Mueller would open the L.A. Times one day and say, “You know, when you put it that way, maybe money laundering isn’t such a big deal!” An equally unlikely prospect is a jury pool that prides itself on being ever prepared to discuss contemporary Ukrainian politics in the salons. But sometimes clients — especially clients who’ve spent their lives as, for lack of a better word, “hucksters” — just don’t see any situation as one they can’t talk their way out of. This can put their attorneys in awkward situations. Like, having to furiously draft a response filing for the day after tomorrow.
Judge Jackson appears to be duly disturbed by these accusations. Earlier today, Judge Jackson gave Manafort until Thursday to explain himself.
Unless he’s in a position to successfully argue that he had nothing to do with this article, he should count himself lucky if she only knocks him back down to house arrest.
[UPDATE: The alleged author is claiming Manafort proofed the op-ed but had no role in its substance. So that’s probably what we’ll hear on Thursday.]
Manafort worked on op-ed with Russian while out on bail, prosecutors say [CNN]
Manafort given until Thursday to explain ghost written op-ed about his Ukraine work [New York Daily News]
Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.