Crime

Paul Manafort's Bond Revoked, He's Going To Jail Now

It's almost like they revoked Manafort's race card.

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Paul Manafort (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Alan Dershowitz went on television earlier today, and expressed outrage on behalf of Paul Manafort. He said, “The idea of locking somebody up before they are convicted of a crime is an anathema to our Constitution.”

I’m not sure if Alan Dershowitz knows or remembers that black people exist. If he did, he might realize that pre-trial confinement is a condition of being poor or black in this country. Only wealthy white people or uber-rich celebrities have any real hope of escaping jail before a trial on their guilt.

Up until now, Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, has been afforded the white man’s luxury. Despite being charged with various crimes of conspiracy and fraud, Manafort has been on pseudo-house-arrest, walking around free on bond.

But Manafort took the “being white” thing a little too far. Allegedly, he’s been using his time to tamper with witnesses. A week and a half ago, prosecutors filed a motion to revoke Manafort’s bond, and send him to jail.

Today, Judge Amy Berman Jackson agreed. Saying that she had “no choice,” she revoked his bond. From the AP:

Manafort is the first Trump campaign official to be jailed as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. His attorneys have argued that Manafort didn’t do anything wrong and accused prosecutors of conjuring a “sinister plot” out of “innocuous” contacts with witnesses.

Manafort will remain in jail while he awaits two trials in the next few months. He faces several felony charges related to his Ukrainian political work and money he funneled through offshore accounts.

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There really was no other possible resolution. If this was almost any other criminal defendant, this wouldn’t even be “news.” For God’s sake, Manafort was allegedly using WhatsApp to influence witnesses who will have to testify about his crimes. YOU CAN’T DO THAT.

Speculation is already rampant that actual jail will convince Manafort to turn state’s evidence and flip on his potential co-conspirators. I’m not so sure. First of all, it’s not like Manafort will be going to some kind of maximum security prison to re-enact scenes from Oz. He’s not going to have to shave his head and join a gang just to survive.

And, you know, the potential of a Presidential pardon hangs over everything. He can tell himself every day that if he just “stays strong” his buddies on the outside will bust him out.

Anyway, good luck, Paul. In the words of Avon Barksdale, “You only do two days in prison, no how. The day you go in, and the day you get out.”

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Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.

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