Just when we think Democrats can’t go any lower, they surprise us.
A source close to Paul Manafort told Fox News that a New York State judge has ordered his transfer from a minimum security prison in Pennsylvania to Rikers Island, a maximum security jail located in The Bronx, NY. This facility has been home to some of the city’s most violent criminals including the Son of Sam serial killer, David Berkowitz, and Mark David Chapman, who shot John Lennon.
Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, was convicted last August for several counts of bank and tax fraud, charges that were unrelated to the Russian collusion case against the President.
The source told Fox that Manafort will be “held in solitary confinement for his own protection and that his defense team is planning an appeal.”
The move comes at the request of highly partisan Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr.
Vance, a Democrat, said in March that a New York grand jury charged Manafort with 16 counts including residential mortgage fraud, falsifying business records and other charges. He said at the time that “no one is beyond the law in New York.” Manafort cannot be pardoned by President Trump for state crimes.
Prosecutors said Manafort, 69, hid income earned from political work overseas from the IRS while fraudulently obtaining millions in bank loans.
He is still facing additional years in prison from another case: After his conviction in Virginia, Manafort pleaded guilty in Washington to foreign lobbying violations and witness tampering as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. He has not yet been sentenced in that case, and Mueller’s team recently asked a federal judge to sentence him to 24 years in prison and order him to pay as much as a $24 million fine.
Manafort is now 70 years old. His health has deteriorated significantly during his time in prison. He is already a broken man.
Yet, Cy Vance requests that he be transferred to a maximum security facility telling the court that no man is above the law. Let’s rephrase that Cy. No man is above the reach of the deep state.
Dear Mr. Vance: We’ll remember this when the time comes for sentencing those convicted in the coup against President Trump.
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