LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors are urging a federal appeals court to reject former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s bid to be released on bail as he prepares for two criminal trials, including one set to begin later this month. In a filing Thursday [7-5-18], Mueller’s team urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit not to disturb a lower court’s order last month jailing Manafort over charges that he tampered with witnesses related to the cases against him. Prosecutors encouraged the judges to reject Manafort’s argument that the witness tampering allegations against him are less worrisome than in some other cases because no threat of force was involved…An updated indictment filed against Manafort last month accused him of reaching out to two former colleagues, Alan Friedman and Eckart Sager, in an attempt to have them say that a Ukraine-related lobbying campaign they worked on was focused on Europe, not the U.S. Manafort has pleaded not guilty to the charges.”
-Josh Gerstein, “Mueller fights Manafort’s bid for release from Virginia jail,” Politico, June 5, 2018 6:17 pm