After interference from Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, federal prison officials stop Paul Manafort from being transferred to Rikers Island. He was scheduled to await trial there, for a case unrelated to his current sentence.
It’s unclear but not impossible to accurately guess who asked or ordered the Justice Dept. to intervene.
Manhattan prosecutors were surprised to receive a letter from the second-highest law enforcement official in the country inquiring about Mr. Manafort’s case. The letter, from Jeffrey A. Rosen, Attorney General William P. Barr’s new top deputy, indicated that he was monitoring where Mr. Manafort would be held in New York.
And then, on Monday, federal prison officials weighed in, telling the Manhattan district attorney’s office that Mr. Manafort, 70, would not be going to Rikers.
The New York Times
Sources
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/17/nyregion/manafort-rikers.html
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/jeffrey-rosen-barr-paul-manafort-rikers-island
Photo: ABC/ Ida Mae Astute