FBI agent Brock Domin wrote in court documents that Manafort “contacted and attempted to contact” two unnamed witnesses, “in an effort to influence their testimony and to otherwise conceal evidence”. (...)
The witnesses, according to the court filings, worked with Manafort in organizing the Hapsburg Group, described by the counsel’s office as “a group of former senior European politicians to take positions favorable to Ukraine, including by lobbying in the United States”. (...)
Manafort attempted to contact one of the witnesses in February after a federal grand jury in Washington returned a “superseding indictment”, which accused him of having “secretly retained” a group of European officials to lobby for positions favorable to Ukraine in the US. (...)
During one call the witness told the government that Manafort identified himself and said he wanted to give “a heads-up about Hapsburg”. (...)
Through the app, Manafort sent a link to Business Insider story titled “Former European leaders struggle to explain themselves after Mueller claims Paul Manafort paid them to lobby for Ukraine”. Then he wrote: “We should talk. I have made clear that they worked in Europe.”