Paul Manafort Is Out

Paul Manafort is out of prison. President Trump's former campaign chairman, sentenced to 7.5 years for tax fraud and conspiracy in March 2019, was released from Loretto federal prison in Pennsylvania early Wednesday owing to the novel coronavirus, according to ABC News and CBS News. Manafort, picked up by his wife and another family member, will serve the remainder of his sentence at home, per ABC. He'd been scheduled to leave prison in November 2024. However, his lawyers requested the 71-year-old be moved to home confinement, citing his age and health issues including liver disease and respiratory issues.

Manafort was also hospitalized for a heart condition in December and fell ill with influenza and bronchitis in February, per CBS. "Even though there are no reported cases of COVID-19 at FCI Loretto at this time, given the growing number of cases in Pennsylvania and increasing challenges in testing inmates and staff potentially exposed to COVID-19, it is only a matter of time before the infection spreads to staff and inmates," his lawyers wrote in April. Then "it may be too late to prevent high-risk inmates, such as Mr. Manafort, from contracting the potentially deadly virus." There remain no known cases of COVID-19 at the prison, per ABC. (More Paul Manafort stories.)