Paul Manafort really wants to spend Christmas in the Hamptons


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.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.
-
August 31 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include FEMA's new scheme, Gavin Newsom's antics, and a clue in the Epstein files
-
Disarming Hezbollah: Lebanon's risky mission
Talking Point Iran-backed militia has brought 'nothing but war, division and misery', but rooting them out for good is a daunting and dangerous task
-
Woof! Britain's love affair with dogs
The Explainer The UK's canine population is booming. What does that mean for man's best friend?
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
speed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play