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Saying the court could not "turn a blind eye" to accusations by prosecutors of witness tampering, a judge on Friday sent Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, to jail—revoking his house arrest as he faces trial on numerous charges.
As the Associated Press reports:
The move by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson made Manafort the first Trump campaign official to be jailed as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Already under intense pressure to cooperate with prosecutors in hopes of securing leniency, Manafort now loses the relative freedom he enjoyed while he prepared for two criminal trials in which he faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison.
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"You have abused the trust placed in you six months ago," Jackson said. The judge further castigated the former top aide to the president by saying she had no choice but to remand him into custody. "This isn't middle school," she reportedly declared, "I can't take your phone."
So now what happens?
So what happens now for Paul Manafort?
The former Trump campaign chairman is going to be in jail for at least several months, while he awaits the start of his other trials. – @PeteWilliamsNBC pic.twitter.com/n7BWESetsn
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) June 15, 2018
.@PaulaReidCBS on what would happen if Paul Manafort decides to cooperate: "What he would have to do is provide sufficiently valuable evidence to Robert Mueller and his investigators for their investigation." https://t.co/wiAzWqA8uv pic.twitter.com/qLbXPVpgl5
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 15, 2018
