Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was led off to a federal jail Friday, where he will remain until his trial in September, after pleading not guilty to charges of obstruction.
Manafort appeared before U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington. His current bail, which allowed him out on house arrest, was revoked.
Jackson said she “struggled” with Friday’s decision during the nearly two-hour hearing, but ultimately leaned on other court cases that had revoked bail for witness tampering, even if the tampering did not involve violence or threats of violence.
Manafort was charged in October in Washington with money laundering, tax evasion, conspiracy and failure to register as a foreign agent in Washington. He had been allowed out on a $10 million bond and had worn a GPS monitoring anklet after pleading not guilty and a months-long back-and-forth between his defense team and federal prosecutors.
He was more recently charged alongside a Russian-Ukrainian business partner, Konstantin Kilimnik, for allegedly contacting witnesses and asking them to lie about the lobbying work they did together.
Three marshals led Manafort out of the courtroom into the prison holding area, but he was not placed in cuffs. He gave his wife Kathleen a short wave before disappearing.
Manafort has also pleaded not guilty to bank and tax fraud in an indictment in Virginia, and that trial is slated to begin in July.
“There is nothing on the record of this court that assures that Mr. Manafort will abide by [any] conditions” of pre-trial release short of being jailed, argued prosecutor Greg Andres.
Richard Westling, an attorney for Manafort, said there were conditions other than jail time that would have prevented this from occurring in the future, such as having a full witness list.
But Jackson shot that notion down, and asked how she could be assured Manafort wouldn’t contact witnesses if he had access to the list.
Jackson also came down hard against Manafort, reminding him multiple times that he was under a gag order from her, and another order from the judge overseeing the case against him in Virginia not to contact “anyone” involved in the case.
“This is not middle school, I can’t take his cell phone,” said Jackson.
Jackson added that Manafort had “abused the trust placed in you six months ago” and treated the court proceedings as “just another marketing exercise.”
President Trump has attempted to distance himself from Manafort, saying from the White House earlier Friday that “Manafort had nothing to do with our campaign.”
Manafort’s wife ignored all questions outside the federal courthouse in downtown Washington, as did his spokesperson Jason Maloni.
