Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort will await trial behind bars after a federal judge revoked his bail during his arraignment on Friday.
The former Trump aide had asked to remain on house arrest until his trial which is set to begin on September 17 in Washington.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled in favor of prosecutors who for months had been pushing for Manafort to be jailed because he is a flight risk.
In issuing her ruling, Jackson said she had ‘struggled’ with the decision but she couldn’t ‘turn a blind eye’ to his conduct.
‘You have abused the trust placed in you six months ago,’ she said.
Manafort had been confined to his home in the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia and forced to wear a GPS monitoring device since last year.
He had repeatedly requested to end his home confinement in exchange for pledging $10 million in real estate as collateral – which Judge Jackson had rebuffed.
Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort had his bail revoked during his arraignment on Friday
Manafort had been on house arrest since last year and had been forced GPS monitoring device
Last week, Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted Manafort on a new charge of witness tampering, and had asked for his bail to be revoked
A federal grand jury indicted Manafort and a longtime associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, last week on charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice, adding to the multiple felony counts he already faced.
The charges do not relate to his work on the Trump campaign or involve allegations of Russian election interference.
Manafort has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
He has been indicted by Mueller in both Washington and Virginia on a raft of charges including conspiracy against the United States.
His trial on the related charges in Virginia is set for July 25.
Mueller, whose investigation could threaten Trump’s presidency, is also investigating whether the president’s 2016 campaign colluded with Moscow and whether Trump has unlawfully sought to obstruct the Russia probe.
The president has called Mueller’s investigation a witch hunt and has denied wrongdoing.
A June 8 indictment charged Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik, a Manafort aide and political operative with alleged ties to Russian intelligence, with tampering with witnesses about their past lobbying for Ukraine’s former pro-Russian government.
Manafort’s wife Kathleen Manafort, was seen leaving without him departs without him after his arraignment on a third superseding indictment against him by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on charges of witness tampering
The indictment accused Manafort and Kilimnik of attempting to call, text, and send encrypted messages in February to two people from a political discussion group – the so-called Hapsburg Group – that Manafort worked with to promote Ukraine’s interests in a bid to sway their testimony.
The messages – sent on WhatsApp – were an ‘effort to influence [witness] testimony and to otherwise conceal evidence’, the FBI said.
Mueller’s team this month asked the judge to revoke Manafort’s bail, saying his “obstructive” conduct “instills little confidence that restrictions short of detention will assure Manafort’s compliance with the court’s orders and prevent him from committing further crimes.”
Manafort has longstanding ties to a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine and a Russian oligarch close to the Kremlin.
The charges against Manafort in Washington include conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to defraud the United States and failing to register as a foreign agent for the pro-Russia Ukrainian government under former President Viktor Yanukovych.
Manafort was seen going through security on his arrival at federal court, Friday
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled in favor of prosecutors who for months had been pushing for Manafort to be jailed because he is a flight risk
Manafort was met by a crowd of protesters holding signs reading ‘lock him up’ as he walked into the Federal Courthouse Friday morning