Paul Manafort, onetime Trump campaign chairman, has been hospitalized since last Thursday after suffering a “cardiac event” in prison, according to a report.
ABC News, citing two sources familiar with the matter, said Manafort, 70, is recovering at a Pennsylvania hospital while under the watch of correctional officers and could be released in the coming days.
The veteran Republican operative was slated to appear in court Wednesday, though his lawyer, Todd Blanche, said his client would not be attending the hearing.
Manafort was convicted last year on tax, bank fraud, and conspiracy charges as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and is serving a seven-and-a-half-year federal prison sentence in Pennsylvania. Almost immediately after Manafort was charged, he was hit with additional charges for mortgage fraud in New York that could place him outside President Trump’s power to pardon.
Earlier this year, reports stated that Manafort was expected to be transferred to Rikers Island jail, where he was likely to be held in solitary confinement. A New York State judge ordered him to be transferred after a request from New York City District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr. Ultimately, the transfer never occurred.
ABC News’ report came shortly after Rick Gates, a former Trump deputy campaign manager and past business partner of Paul Manafort, was sentenced to 45 days in prison and three years of probation. Gates pleaded guilty last year to charges relating to his consulting activities in Ukraine
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