Paul Manafort says he edited Ukraine op
Paul Manafort
Lawyers for  former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort   shown last month  acknowleged Thursday that  Manafort  was involved with an opinion piece about  his  case in a Ukrainian newspaper. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
 Manafort ’s defense argued in a court filing to a federal judge in Washington that  Manafort ’s work on the op-ed piece for an English-language newspaper in Kiev defending himself did not violate a court gag order because it would not likely bias potential jurors in any U.S. trial.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had ordered  Manafort  to respond by Thursday to Monday’s allegation that he had violated the gag order. Prosecutors cited the purported violation as a reason for pulling out of a proposed joint bail deal that would release  Manafort  from home detention and GPS monitoring as he awaits trial on charges of money laundering  fraud and failing to register as a foreign agent when he worked as a consultant to a Ukrainian political party.
Prosecutors argued that  Manafort  defended  his  work advising a Russia-friendly political party in Ukraine in the opinion piece  he  ghostwrote with an unidentified person they say was a longtime Russian colleague assessed to have ties to a Russian intelligence service.
 Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort  was indicted on money laundering and other charges Oct. 30. The unsealed indictment reveals details of  Manafort ’s lavish lifestyle. (Patrick Martin Danielle Kunitz/The Washington Post)
[Prosecutors say longtime  Manafort  colleague has ‘ties’ to Russian intelligence]
 Manafort’s  defense team said the piece  posted online Thursday by the Kyiv Post  was written by Oleg Voloshyn  a Ukrainian political commentator and former Foreign Ministry spokesman  as Voloshyn also told The Washington Post earlier this week.
Earlier  prosecutor Andrew Weissmann had argued that  Manafort ’s work on the editorial “clearly was undertaken to influence the public’s opinion of  defendant Manafort  ” saying there would be no other reason for  Manafort  and the colleague to have  it  published under someone else’s name.
Manafort and Kilimnik were in close contact during the months that  Manafort  ran Trump’s campaign. They met twice in person  including an August 2016 dinner in New York City where Kilimnik has said their conversation included discussion of the presidential campaign.
For a decade   Manafort  and Kilimnik worked with then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych  who was initially considered pro-Western but eventually became allied with Russian interests.
Voloshyn argued in the editorial that  Manafort  favored Ukraine’s integration with Europe and had opposed Russia’s interests.
Kilimnik also served as  Manafort ’s liaison to Oleg Deripaska  an aluminum magnate and ally to Russian President Vladi­mir Putin who employed Manafort as an investment consultant.
According to emails described to The Post   Manafort  directed Kilimnik to offer Deripaska “private briefings” about Trump’s campaign. A Deripaska spokeswoman has said he was never offered such briefings.
[ Manafort  offered to give Russian billionaire ‘private briefings’ on 2016 campaign]
Lawyers for [TGT]shown last month  acknowleged Thursday that  [TGT]was involved with an opinion piece about  [TGT]  case in a Ukrainian newspaper. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
 [TGT] ’s defense argued in a court filing to a federal judge in Washington that  Manafort ’s work on the op-ed piece for an English-language newspaper in Kiev defending himself did not violate a court gag order because it would not likely bias potential jurors in any U.S. trial.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had ordered  [TGT]  to respond by Thursday to Monday’s allegation that he had violated the gag order. Prosecutors cited the purported violation as a reason for pulling out of a proposed joint bail deal that would release  [TGT]from home detention and GPS monitoring as [TGT] awaits trial on charges of money laundering  fraud and failing to register as a foreign agent when [TGT] worked as a consultant to a Ukrainian political party.
Prosecutors argued that  [TGT]defended  his  work advising a Russia-friendly political party in Ukraine in the opinion piece  he  ghostwrote with an unidentified person they say was a longtime Russian colleague assessed to have ties to a Russian intelligence service.
 [TGT]was indicted on money laundering and other charges Oct. 30. The unsealed indictment reveals details of  [TGT]. (Patrick Martin Danielle Kunitz/The Washington Post)
[Prosecutors say longtime  [TGT]  colleague has ‘ties’ to Russian intelligence]
 Manafort’s  defense team said the piece  posted online Thursday by the Kyiv Post  was written by Oleg Voloshyn  a Ukrainian political commentator and former Foreign Ministry spokesman  as Voloshyn also told The Washington Post earlier this week.
Earlier  prosecutor Andrew Weissmann had argued that  Manafort ’s work on the editorial “clearly was undertaken to influence the public’s opinion of  defendant Manafort  ” saying there would be no other reason for  Manafort  and the colleague to have  it  published under someone else’s name.
Manafort and Kilimnik were in close contact during the months that  Manafort  ran Trump’s campaign. They met twice in person  including an August 2016 dinner in New York City where Kilimnik has said their conversation included discussion of the presidential campaign.
For a decade   Manafort  and Kilimnik worked with then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych  who was initially considered pro-Western but eventually became allied with Russian interests.
Voloshyn argued in the editorial that  Manafort  favored Ukraine’s integration with Europe and had opposed Russia’s interests.
Kilimnik also served as  Manafort ’s liaison to Oleg Deripaska  an aluminum magnate and ally to Russian President Vladi­mir Putin who employed Manafort as an investment consultant.
According to emails described to The Post   Manafort  directed Kilimnik to offer Deripaska “private briefings” about Trump’s campaign. A Deripaska spokeswoman has said he was never offered such briefings.
[ Manafort  offered to give Russian billionaire ‘private briefings’ on 2016 campaign]