Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was heavily involved in the drafting of an op-ed defending his consulting work in Ukraine, which prosecutors argue violated a court order barring him from making his case in the press, according to new documents.
The Associated Press reported Friday that the court documents show that Manafort heavily edited the essay, which was published this week in an English-language Ukrainian newspaper under the name of a former spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The documents cited by the AP were filed by special counsel Robert Mueller, who indicted Manafort as part of his ongoing investigation into whether Trump campaign associates colluded with Russia amid Moscow’s efforts to meddle in the 2016 election.
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Prosecutors say that the op-ed violates Manafort’s gag order, and that the government should stop the $11 million bail agreement proposal. But attorneys for Manafort argue the essay does not violate the gag order given that the essay was never meant for a U.S. audience.
A note on the Kyiv Post article says that author Oleg Voloshin wrote the article by himself, and it was given to one of Manafort’s Ukrainian contacts for “fact-checking.” The author has denied any involvement by Manafort.
Manafort’s editing would have taken place during his house arrest.
The former Trump associate has pleaded not guilty to other charges of fraud and money laundering.