Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Innocent people do not delay justice.

“woke” is the new caravan.

White supremacy is terrorism.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

An almost top 10,000 blog!

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

So many bastards, so little time.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Manafort in for 7.5 years

Manafort in for 7.5 years

by | 99 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , ,

Open thread

Reader Interactions

99Comments

  3. 3.

    scav

    Hanging and quartering are just not what used to be, I DescriptionBeloasn’t even hoping for a head on a spike over Tower Bridge, but still!

  6. 6.

    germy

    Jackson said she appreciated Manafort's comments today, but found it "striking" he chose not to write something to her in advance of sentencing, which she said many defendants have done, incl. those who haven't finished high school or who don't speak English as a first language— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) March 13, 2019

  8. 8.

    Baud

    Is anyone reporting whether this sentence is within the Guidelines range? The Virginia sentence was offensive because it was a substantial downward departure from the Guidelines.

  9. 9.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: MSNBC talking heads keeping using phrases like “down the middle” and “by the book”

    ETA and repost from below: one of the MSNBC former-federal-prosecutors just rattled off the states where charges could but have not yet been filed. I think it included NY, Illinois and Rhode Island

  13. 13.

    BlueGirlFromWyo

    The old saying’s right: if you’re gonna steal, steal big. This is a disgrace.

  16. 16.

    Butch

    @Baud: The guidelines allowed up to 10 years according to the reporting I’ve heard. I think his sentences combined are a disgrace – the guy is a lifelong criminal.

  18. 18.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dr. bloor: I have to recover the quatloos I lost in an earlier thread, confidently wagering he’d get at least eight years. So doubling down: Manafort will be pardoned the morning after the 2020 election, if not one minute after the polls close in Arizona (the western-most swing state). ETA: with a Senate (juror) seat possible in play

  19. 19.

    cckids

    @dr. bloor:

    He already looks like death warmed over.

    I’d be willing to bet that his current look is enhanced so as to (hopefully) elicit sympathy from judges, given the wheelchair, etc. It may have worked.

  20. 20.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mr. Mack: @Baud: It was at the top end of how the guidelines indicate a possible ten year maximum sentence should be applied. She came out on the high side of splitting the difference, which is required by the rules and regs in place to allow a certain amount of his time to serve concurrently with the ridiculous sentence he got from Judge Ellis last week the EDVA. Had Judge Ellis conducted himself and his court the way Judge Jackson did, Manafort would be looking at closer to 15 or 20 years between the two convictions. The fault here is not on Judge Jackson, she did what she was supposed to do, the way she was supposed to do it. The fault is still on Judge Ellis.

    There are five six additional items to keep in mind here:
    1) With today’s sentence, he will be in prison until he’s just about 77. Even Club Fed is unpleasant. And they’re going to have to keep him solitary to keep him safe.
    2) Judge Jackson signed an order for $11 million of addition restitution.
    3) The Special Counsel just hit Manafort with an additional $24 million restitution order in regard to his conviction in the EDVA, which is not subject to Judge Ellis’s approval or oversight. So that’s now an additional $35 million in restitution.
    4) The Special Counsel had not made a final determination as to whether he will appeal Judge Ellis’s sentencing decision. Some of that delay was to see what Judge Jackson did today.
    5) The Special Counsel has not made a final determination as to whether to charge Manafort with the dozens of additional crimes that he committed and that they have not currently charged him with. Some of that delay was to see what the outcomes of both trials were, including the sentencing.
    6) New York state, the City of New York, and the Attorney General in DC will now begin to move forward as to whether they will bring charges against Manafort for the crimes he committed in their jurisdictions, but that the Special Counsel did not charge him for.

  25. 25.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dr. bloor: d this is all wasted angst.

    or, Balloon Juice, you might say

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: yup, I don’t think it’s tin-foil hatty to say that trump wants, at the very least, to keep the Russian mafia (from the Kremlin to Deutsche Bank and the Bank of Malta (or is it Cyprus?) to god knows what respectable looking Manhattan offices) happy enough to do business, and withhold information. I don’t believe for a moment Manafort has told all he knows, or that he doesn’t know about more than just trump.

  26. 26.

    germy

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Do you think he’ll still pardon Manafort if he loses?

    If he loses, I wonder if he’ll accept defeat or tell his base the election was rigged? And then blame the inevitable violence on leftists?

  28. 28.

    JoyceH

    @cckids: More likely it was his pre-prison appearance that was “enhanced”. I roll my eyes every time a pundit says that prison has aged Manafort. He’s a seventy year old man who until recently has lived the life of a millionaire. Now he’s locked up and separated from his hair tint and his facials, his toners and tighteners, his buffers and his bracers – and he’s looking his age.

  29. 29.

    Plato

    I knew all her showboating before the ‘sentencing’ was just that. What a joke. What a travesty. It is always nice to be white.

  30. 30.

    Another Scott

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t see why Donnie would pardon him – his voters don’t care (the way they did about the Sheriff guy). Manafort is a disposable hired gun, Donnie cut him loose because he was ‘low energy’ and he couldn’t control the news narrative about the campaign. Manafort’s not going to squeal on Donnie even without the promise of a pardon because he doesn’t want the Putin mafia types to come after him or his family.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  33. 33.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @germy:

    I wonder if he’ll accept defeat

    In the sense of not contesting the transfer of power in any meaningful physical way? Probably. He’s an incredible coward. More to the point, if he refuses to budge from the White House, he’ll be carried out. The Secret Service takes their job VERY seriously, and their duty will be to the new president.

    tell his base the election was rigged?

    Yes. Absolutely. He will claim it was rigged against him if he wins.

    And then blame the inevitable violence on leftists?

    If there is any extra violence, it will be a small, brief increase in stochastic terrorism, hopefully put down by a watchful FBI. Thank goodness, conservatives have proven time and again they elected a chickenshit president for a chickenshit movement.

  36. 36.

    trollhattan

    @Another Scott:
    Hasn’t Trump been extolling Manafort’s loyalty? A pardon sends a message to the several dozen other miscreants in process.

    Which makes state charges triply important. Paulie needs a nice friendly prison shanking.

  38. 38.

    BobS

    @JoyceH: That’s an insightful observation. I don’t think he’s up to doing this sentence (and that’s not to say I wouldn’t like to see one or more states bring charges to forestall a Trump pardon.

  39. 39.

    tobie

    Judge Jackson played it safe and by the book but given the gross miscarriage of Justice in Virginia, and the severity of the crime of witness tampering and Manafort’s repeated lying to prosecutors following his plea deal, playing it safe seems like an injustice.

  40. 40.

    germy

    @JoyceH: And if he did get a pardon, he’d do a Willy Wonka somersault and show up on the talk shows looking ten years younger.

  41. 41.

    Gin & Tonic

    And, on cue, the Manhattan DA’s office just unsealed 15 fraud and conspiracy charges against our man Paulie.

  43. 43.

    ruemara

    It’s not long enough, not by half and frankly he deserves capital punishment. But the nice news is that NYC DA just indicted him on charges.

  45. 45.

    Another Scott

    @trollhattan: The only thing I recall recently is, “I feel very badly for Paul Manafort” when he commented after his first sentence by Ellis. And then Donnie immediately started ranting about “no collusion” and all the rest.

    I dunno.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  46. 46.

    rikyrah

    @Adam L Silverman:

    4) The Special Counsel had not made a final determination as to whether he will appeal Judge Ellis’s sentencing decision. Some of that delay was to see what Judge Jackson did today.
    5) The Special Counsel has not made a final determination as to whether to charge Manafort with the dozens of additional crimes that he committed and that they have not currently charged him with. Some of that delay was to see what the outcomes of both trials were, including the sentencing.
    6) New York state, the City of New York, and the Attorney General in DC will now begin to move forward as to whether they will bring charges against Manafort for the crimes he committed in their jurisdictions, but that the Special Counsel did not charge him for.

    The answer to all of these should be YES YES and more YES.

  47. 47.

    Aleta

    Elie Honig @eliehonig

    Manafort bottom line:

    47 months (EDVA) + 43 months (DC consecutive) = 90 months.

    Subtract -15% for good time in prison (standard federal deduction) = about 77 months.
    Subtract -9 months already served.

    = approx. 68 months behind bars = gets out around November 2024

  52. 52.

    rikyrah

    @MattF:

    @rikyrah: So, now, the Senate has to take up the legislation passed by the House? Or not?

    They always had to…it was never any question. Out of the Turtle’s hands.

  53. 53.

    ruemara

    @rikyrah: Yeah. I needed a lot of moments to contain the rage I feel about this. You guys have no idea how much this shit opened some severe & deep wounds.

  56. 56.

    chris

    Wow. Downing is saying that Judge ABJ found that there was no evidence of Russia collusion. Protesters shout out “LIAR” and “THAT’S NOT WHAT SHE SAID.” (They’re right, it’s not what she said. She said this case had not addressed the collusion question.)— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) 13 March 2019

    (Downing is Manafort’s defence lawyer)

  57. 57.

    dmsilev

    @LAO: Story link from the FTNYT. Headline writer gets right to the point:

    New York Charges Paul Manafort With 16 Crimes. If He’s Convicted, Trump Can’t Pardon Him.

    Paul J. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, has been charged in New York with mortgage fraud and more than a dozen other state felonies, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., said Wednesday, an effort to ensure he will still face prison time if Mr. Trump pardons him for his federal crimes.

  59. 59.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Plato:
    What the fuck was she supposed to do? Sentencing guidelines are sentencing guidelines. By all accounts, she did her job as she was supposed to. It was that asshole Ellis that fucked things up. Be pissed at him.

    Speaking of which, how’s old Ellie been reacting to the backlash, anyway? Shocked, shocked, he tells you?

  61. 61.

    dmsilev

    @rikyrah: They have to take up the Houses’s bill, but the point of this overly-clever maneuver is to give Republican Senators an excuse for voting no on the House’s bill. No idea whether it will work or not.

  64. 64.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @chris: Wow. Downing is saying that Judge ABJ found that there was no evidence of Russia collusion. Protesters shout out “LIAR”

    I keep saying in the trump era we need a word for shocked-if-not-at-all-surprised. Also for “TeeVee performance for the audience of one”.

    I wonder if The Beast is tweeting this out yet.

  67. 67.

    Aleta

    Prob mentioned already, but his indictment by the Manhattan DA this morning, if successfully prosecuted, doesn’t allow pardon by the prez.

    (I see the actual lawyers here are fast in the water.)
    ‏

  71. 71.

    Aleta

    Katy Tur @KatyTurNBC

    Manafort’s lawyer came out and just said “no collusion” which is wild because the Judge specifically said no collusion had nothing to do with that case and that Mueller is still looking into collusion.

    Could it be any clearer, Manafort’s folks are appealing for a pardon?

  72. 72.

    rikyrah

    @ruemara:

    @rikyrah: Yeah. I needed a lot of moments to contain the rage I feel about this. You guys have no idea how much this shit opened some severe & deep wounds

    You need not explain anything to me. Any achieving Black person in America that’s not a Coon on the Pole, understands your rage.

  74. 74.

    J R in WV

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I can see Trump waiting for the election. Do you think he’ll still pardon Manafort if he loses?

    No way — he’ll be so pissed if he goes down after all that work, already spent a lot of time and money on the 2020 campaign! He’ll be bitter and hateful, and blame all these felons for messing up his re-election… no pardons for anyone if he loses re-election … well, maybe for Ivanka?

  75. 75.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Aleta: Saw it after I responded to the earlier comment. Getting the breaking news post up put me behind.

  77. 77.

    cckids

    @JoyceH: Well, true. But a life of money and privilege also brings good health care, which can keep you looking better too. And I have no trouble believing Manafort & his lawyers would try to game the legal system by overstating his “health” issues.

  78. 78.

    Amir Khalid

    @Adam L Silverman:
    It’s my understanding that Ukraine prefers not to be called “the” Ukraine — apparently the definite article dates back to when the nation was under Russian rule.

  79. 79.

    Aleta

    southpaw @nycsouthpaw

    All in all, Manafort’s early decision not to waive venue for the EDVA charges and consolidate his case in DC—which was puzzling at the time—looks like it saved him a decade or more off his sentence and gave him a chance to get out of prison in his 70s even if he’s not pardoned.

    southpaw @nycsouthpaw
    And I’d like to invite Judge Ellis and Judge Jackson to join my sxspaw panel to discuss whether that’s as it should be.

    Dan Lavoie @djlavoie
    Replying to @nycsouthpaw
    Did he know who he pulled for EDVA judge at the time he made that decision?

    southpaw @nycsouthpaw
    Doubt it, but he knew he had ABJ in DC.

  82. 82.

    Death Panel Truck

    Too bad the decimal is in the wrong place. As long as he leaves prison in a pine box, I guess I’ll be happy.

    He’d best watch out for the Thallium Tea Treatment. Vlad has a long reach.

  84. 84.

    Ruckus

    @Butch:
    Courts doing their job can not imprison a person for things not tried in that court. Manfort may be a life long criminal, I’m pretty sure he is, and while he should be tried for that, he really can’t be. Exactly why the criminal system is not working properly. People like him get away with almost everything while a guy walking down the street gets the death penalty for walking while black.

  85. 85.

    Aleta

    Ken Dilanian: Downing said two courts had found no collusion—patently untrue.

    New York Law Journal: NY Lawmakers Expected to Pass Bill Closing Double Jeopardy Loophole

    Ken Dilanian: Won’t apply retroactively but we can assume Manhattan DA took account of the law.

  89. 89.

    Mnemosyne

    @ruemara:

    I have a deep urge to slap Lori Laughlin’s bratty kid upside the head, so I can only imagine how you’re feeling.

    Who thought that Paris Hilton would end up looking like someone with a clear-eyed view of her own limitations when she decided to get her GED and skip college to hit the party scene?

  90. 90.

    Aleta

    @Adam L Silverman: (ha)
    What @Frankensteinbeck was talking about is important though. IMO, the political science aspect of the issue is larger than framing the discussion as personal upset. Politics is what we’re all here to discuss and I’m grateful to Frankensteinbeck for putting in the effort and time to bring that part out. Not everyone agrees that it matters, but I guess that’s politics.

  91. 91.

    ruemara

    @Mnemosyne: Funny ain’t it. I gave up on USC and even CSULA because I couldn’t even begin to figure out how to pay for the grad programs I was accepted to. That was over a decade ago. The fucking trajectory of my life has always been affected by lack of resources. I couldn’t afford the math tutoring, couldn’t afford more than one SAT, couldn’t afford more than 5 applications and couldn’t get my parents to let me go to college when I was being scouted back at 15. I cannot understand why rage hasn’t made me burst into flames.

  94. 94.

    Gravenstone

    @MattF: The Senate has no choice in that particular matter. They will have to vote on the repudiation of Trump’s “emergency” because that’s what the applicable law requires of them.

  96. 96.

    david

    This judge was the “harsh” judge who everyone was praising over the last several weeks, right?

  97. 97.

    Miss Bianca

    @rikyrah: This. This fucking thing. Gaming affirmative action, after decrying it for all these years. As if they didn’t have *enough* White Folks affirmative action at their disposal already. This just makes me sick.

    @LAO: You’re back! Yaay! (Kermit arms waving around). Haven’t seen your nym here in ever so long!

  98. 98.

    Elie

    @rikyrah:

    I am soooooooo furious about this that I can barely talk. It is like the final log on the pyre of our myth of the United States… just a bunch of white grifters and slave owners who wove a magic tale about a country that does not exist and has NEVER existed! All those years my parents and cousins and aunts and uncles talked about working hard to PROVE you are valuable and that you can contribute — How hard we worked, and sacrificed and how much shit we swallowed! I am past anything but sorrow and fury…

  99. 99.

    Tehanu

    7.5 years … well, there are still the NY state indictments; maybe he’ll get a real sentence from that. I agree, “Judge” Ellis is the responsible party for the ridiculously short length of time that Manafort will spend in federal prison.

Comments are closed.