It’s the holiday season. Time for family, food, and asking a court to grant permission for exceptions to your house arrest. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Amy Jackson said former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his associate/co-defendant Richard Gates can apply to attend events over the Thanksgiving weekend. Motions to seek release must be filed by 3 p.m. EST on Tuesday, according to the minute order obtained by Law&Crime.
The court has heretofore played hardball with Manafort and Gates, who were charged with multiple crimes including money laundering. Both remain under home confinement, and are continuing to sort out their bail situations with prosecutors. Jackson implemented a gag order on the case.
The indictment spun out of Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s probe into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russian interference in the 2016 election, but Manafort and Gates’ case has nothing to do with those alleged ties. President Donald Trump called the Moscow accusation a “witch hunt” by Democrats.
[Screengrab via CNN]
