Remember all those pundits who were wondering how in the world could Paul Manafort be so stupid as to try to tamper with witnesses while out on bond?
Well … there’s no cure for stupid, as they say.
Here is the relevant section from the filing from Mueller’s team, which is linked in the tweet above:
Although the jail does not allow prisoners to send or receive emails, Manafort appears to have developed a workaround. Manafort has revealed on the monitored phone calls that in order to exchange emails, he reads and composes emails on a second laptop that is shuttled in and out of the facility by his team. When the team takes the laptop from the jail, it reconnects to the internet and Manafort’s emails are transmitted.
Oh, and you know all that stuff about how Manafort is being tortured while in solitary?
Manafort also has a personal telephone in his unit, which he can use over twelve hours a day to speak with his attorneys. According to prison telephone logs, in the last three weeks Manafort has had over 100 phone calls with his attorneys, and another 200 calls with other persons. Those telephone logs indicate Manafort has spoken to his attorneys every day, and often multiple times a day. Manafort also possesses a personal laptop that he is permitted to use in his unit to review materials and prepare for trial. The jail has made extra accommodations for Manafort’s use of the laptop, including providing him an extension cord to ensure the laptop can be used in his unit and not just in the separate workroom.
Now, I don’t know if his email workaround is a violation of prison rules or not or whether there is any possible punishment for it. But this idea that he’s suffering in isolation is pure BS.