Paul Manafort has apparently been dreaming of a white Christmas — by the beach, that is.
On Monday, Manafort's legal team filed a motion to modify the terms of his house arrest to let him spend four days in the Hamptons between Dec. 22 and Dec. 26. President Trump's former campaign chairman was indicted in October on charges including tax evasion, fraud, and "conspiracy against the United States," as a result of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Manafort is currently under house arrest in Virginia. His motion to travel to the Hamptons would seem a little far-fetched if his legal team had not already succeeded last week in petitioning for him to be relocated, pending trial, to his residence in balmy Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, instead of his Virginia condo.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
The new motion filed Monday proposes that the conditions of his Florida residency — which include GPS monitoring and an 11 p.m. curfew — now be transferred to his home in Bridgehampton, New York, over the Christmas holiday. Manafort's lawyer notes that the former Trump campaign chairman has old and infirm family members who would not be able to attend a Manafort Christmas in his Virginia apartment, which "would splinter the family's regular religious celebration." That's why Manafort is also requesting to be allowed to travel between Bridgehampton and East Hampton, where his in-laws live, "to celebrate Christmas together as best they can."
For good measure, Manafort's lawyer also asked that the curfew be lifted on Christmas Eve, "should the family decide to attend a midnight religious celebration of the holiday." Read the full motion here.
