Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign chair was sentenced to 47 months in prison Thursday evening. Prosecutors requested 19-24 years.
From USA Today:
Paul Manafort, the former chairman of President Donald Trump’s campaign, was sentenced Thursday to nearly fouryears in federal prison for cheating banks and the government out of millions of dollars. The prison sentence marks the end ofa stunning downfall for the longtime political operative who helped elect four Republican presidents, including Trump. He is among a half-dozen people in Trump’s orbit who have been charged as a result of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible cooperation with the Trump campaign. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis, who had been critical of Mueller’s prosecutors, imposed the sentence Thursday afternoon in a federal court outside Washington. Manafort, who used his illicit fortune to buy tens of thousands of dollars worth of expensive suits, arrived to hear his sentence in a green jail jumpsuit emblazoned on the back with the words “Alexandria inmate.” He entered the packed federal courtroom in a wheelchair and holding a cane.Manafort said he was “humiliated and ashamed” by his new circumstances.A jury convicted Manafort of eight charges, including bank and tax fraud, after a three-week trial last summer. The case, as well as a related one in Washington, stem from his work as a political consultant in Ukraine before he joined Trump’s campaign in 2016.Before he announced the sentence, Ellis made a point of stressing that Manafort “is not before the court on anything having to do with collusion with the Russian government.”
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MANAFORT VERDICT: Guilty on 8 Counts, Mistrial on 10 Others
Paul Manafort is being prosecuted because of who he knows. I hope he walks.
For our previous coverage of the Manafort trial, see here.
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