WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort has been sent from a jail in Warsaw, Virginia to a detention center in Alexandria, which is closer to the DC area, where he will remain until his July 25 trial, a court document revealed on Tuesday.
Manafort’s lawyers have argued that his confinement two hours away from the Washington, DC area was complicating trial preparations. The defense lawyers representing Manafort have offices in Washington.
“It is hereby ordered that the United States Marshal for the Eastern District of Virginia shall promptly transport the defendant from Northern Neck Regional Jail to the Alexandria Detention Center where he shall remain pending trial,” the document said.
In response to Manafort attorney’s petition, District Court Judge T. S. Ellis ruled in favor of Manafort to make sure that he has access to counsel and prepare for the hearing to an acceptable extent, the court document said.
The request to be transferred to the Alexandria detention center comes after Manafort’s legal team has asked to move their client’s case from the city of Alexandria to Roanoke, Virginia.
A US judge sent Manafort to jail on June 15 to await his trial on charges that he tried to influence two witnesses after he was granted bail.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller had previously charged Manafort with conspiracy to commit money-laundering and acting as an unregistered foreign agent for work he did for the Ukrainian government.
Mueller is also probing allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election, as well as accusations that Trump’s campaign team colluded with Moscow.
Russian officials have repeatedly denied allegations of interference, calling the accusations absurd and intended to deflect public attention from actual instances of election fraud and corruption as well as other issues. Trump has called the probe into the allegations a witch hunt and has pointed out the investigation has not revealed any evidence of collusion after well over a year.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
