RUSH: You want to talk about vindictiveness? Have you heard this? The New York district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., the third, fourth, or 15th, whichever Cyrus Vance he is, has decided that he’s moving Paul Manafort to Rikers Island. That’s like being sent to the devil’s, uhh… the devil’s, uhhh — the devil’s anything! And there’s no need for it. Manafort is in a minimum-security federal prison. The crimes he was convicted of are, for the most part, process crimes — like lying to the investigators, things like that. Rikers Island is where the dregs of the dregs are.

And they’re gonna put him in solitary confinement in Rikers, “to protect him.” It doesn’t make any sense to put Manafort there. By the way, Rikers is not a federal prison! Manafort’s in a federal prison, but Cy Vance figured, “Well, I want this guy…” I mean, the vindictiveness here. The guy’s gonna be in jail the rest of us life, 24 years. They’ve broken him. The things that he was found guilty of are crimes the Justice Department looked at and passed on back in 2014, 2013. I don’t know Manafort from a pile of coal. I have no brief for Manafort.

But, folks, this just seems vindictive and I can’t figure it out, beyond the obvious. This is Cy Vance. This is the DA of New York City doing this, and I don’t know what ties Cy Vance and New York City and the DA have to the Mueller operation, which is what — which is who — got Manafort. Maybe they’re still trying to sweat people and say, “This is where you could end up if you don’t play right by us. If you don’t help us get Trump, this is where you could end up.” Who knows? They may be telling Cohen this. I don’t know.

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What do you mean, “influence other prisoners”? Pfft! You mean at the minimum-security prison? They don’t want him influencing other federal prisoners, so they take him to Rikers ’cause they don’t want him to influence them? Which prisoners are you talking about that they don’t want him to influence? Well, here’s another crazy thing. Manafort’s got continued court appearances in the federal minimum-security prison a couple blocks from the courthouse. Rikers Island is now a much bigger trip than that to and from the courthouse. It’s gonna be a hassle for everybody out there, except for Cyrus Vance VIII or whichever Cyrus Vance he is.