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Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, waves while exiting federal court in Washington, D.C.
A federal judge on Tuesday scheduled a hearing for June 15 on special counsel Robert Mueller’s request to revoke the $10 million release bond of ex-Trump presidential campaign chief Paul Manafort for allegedly trying to tamper with two potential witnesses against him.
Mueller, in documents filed Monday night, accused Manafort of trying to “suborn perjury” and get witnesses to conceal evidence related to his upcoming criminal trials while under home confinement in his Virginia mansion.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson gave Manafort’s lawyers until Friday to respond to Mueller’s motion in federal court in Washington.
Manafort’s spokesman had no comment on Tuesday, but told CNBC he expected to have a statement later in the day.
If Manafort is thrown in jail, it could ramp up the intense pressure he currently faces to plead guilty and to begin cooperating with Mueller’s ongoing probe of President Donald Trump’s campaign.
Manafort, 69, is scheduled to go on trial in Washington in September. He also is set to be tried on related charges in Virginia federal court starting on July 24.
Manafort is charged with a slew of crimes related to his lobbying work on behalf of Ukrainian political figures who were friendly with Russia. He is accused of secretly organizing and funding a group of European political figures to lobby in the United States for Ukraine.
He has pleaded not guilty in both cases. Manafort is the only American to have been criminally charged by Mueller who has elected to go to trial.
Several others, including former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty after being charged by Mueller.
Manafort’s business partner Rick Gates pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy and to lying to the FBI. Gates is now cooperating with Mueller’s team.
Since being charged in October in the Washington case, Manafort has been under home confinement. He occasionally has been allowed to travel, albeit with certain conditions, including that he does not commit any crime.
In his court filing Monday, Mueller accused Manafort of using an encrypted messaging platform to contact potential witnesses in the case, and influence their testimony.
Mueller’s prosecutors had previously accused Manafort of seeking to influence public opinion regarding his case by ghostwriting an op-ed with a colleague who prosecutors alleged was connected to Russian intelligence services.
Mueller was appointed in 2017 to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, as well as possible cooperation by Trump campaign officials with that effort.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly called Mueller’s probe a “witch hunt” and has said there was no collusion with Russia by either himself or by campaign officials.
The charges against Manafort do not include claims that he colluded with Russia during the election.
