Federal prosecutors are opposing Paul Manafort’s request to be released from house arrest on bail, citing his recent efforts to co-write an opinion piece about his work in Ukraine with a person believed to have ties to Russian intelligence — and publish the piece anonymously.
Prosecutors filed an objection in federal court Monday that said, “Manafort worked on the draft with a long-time Russian colleague of Manafort’s, who is currently based in Russia and assessed [by U.S. officials] to have ties to a Russian intelligence service.”
Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chair, was indicted by a federal grand jury in October on seven charges, including failing to disclose his lobbying efforts on behalf of a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.
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The indictment was part of the federal investigation into possible ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Manafort has pleaded not guilty.
Manafort and his unnamed coauthor were writing the opinion piece in English as recently as Nov. 30, according to the prosecutors’ filing. Manafort had planned to publish the article anonymously in an unnamed publication, according to prosecutors.
The filing asserted that if the article were published, it would violate the judge’s gag order prohibiting both sides from making statements about the case.
Prosecutors have obtained a draft of the opinion piece and have filed it under seal with the court.
A spokesperson for Manafort declined to comment.