What the heck is going on with Paul Manafort’s health?
On first blush, it felt like a deleted scene from My Cousin Vinny. Paul Manafort, who just days ago lost a legal battle to be able to wear a suit while in court, showed up in the courtroom today in a wheelchair and wearing only one shoe – even as his lawyers asked the judge to take his visibly poor condition into consideration. But here’s the thing. The more I think about it, the more I don’t think he’s faking it.
Paul Manafort’s lawyers made the de facto argument that life in his current jail cell is literally killing him. His change in diet has caused an inflammation in his foot. He can no longer walk, or even wear a shoe. But Manafort and his team didn’t ask the judge for leniency. Instead they asked that Manafort be sentenced as soon as possible, so he can move from jail to prison, which would be an upgrade. In the process, Manafort essentially asked for a longer prison sentence.
The entire point of Paul Manafort’s cooperating plea deal is for him to wait until Special Counsel Robert Mueller has finished putting him to good use, so that Mueller will go tell the judge how helpful Manafort has been, so that the judge will give Manafort a shorter prison sentence. By asking to be sentenced long before his cooperation period is complete, Manafort knows that the odds are he’ll end up with a longer sentence. This comes even as Manafort is, by all accounts, continuing to fully cooperate.
So this isn’t an attempt on Paul Manafort’s part at getting out of his cooperation deal. Instead, the only thing at play here is that he might be able to get moved from jail to prison sooner. Maybe Manafort really is that bad off health-wise. If so, it may help explain why he decided to cut a plea deal to begin with.
