In case you needed more evidence, the justice system is not blind. The justice system saw a well-connected white man and they said “but he seems sorry, let’s help him get away with treason!” There are black folks who were caught with one joint who get more prison time than Paul Manafort got for a mountain of financial crimes tied to selling out American interests. Manafort was sentenced in one part of his multi-jurisdictional legal case – instead of the roughly 20 years in prison from the federal sentencing guidelines, Manafort was sentenced to… 47 months. Not even four full years. And he gets to “count” the nine months he’s already spend in jail… because he kept on colluding with foreign govenments when he was out on bond.
Although there was no direct mention of Trump during Thursday’s hearing, the president and his public war on Mueller’s investigation loomed over the proceedings. Early in the hearing, US District Judge T.S. Ellis III said he wanted to “underscore” that there were no allegations that Manafort or anyone at his direction colluded with anyone to interfere in the 2016 election. Manafort’s lawyers repeated that point when they spoke with reporters outside the courthouse after the hearing. The sentence imposed by Ellis was far below the sentencing range calculated by the probation office, which was between 19.5 and 24.4 years in prison. Those guidelines aren’t mandatory, and although Ellis concluded that they were “excessive” and “way out of wack,” noting that defendants convicted of similar financial crimes in the past had been sentenced to far less prison time.
Ellis told Manafort that the jury had found him guilty of “very serious crimes,” and that in failing to pay taxes and hiding his money overseas, he had stolen from the taxpaying public. He spoke favorably of Manafort at times, noting that aside from the criminal conduct he was convicted of, he’d “lived an otherwise blameless life,” and pointed to supportive testimonials submitted to the court by Manafort’s wife, daughter, and friends. But the judge also indicated he wasn’t wholly impressed with Manafort’s statement to the court. Manafort spoke about the effect of the case on his life and his family, and said he acknowledged that his conduct was why he was in court, but he did not offer an apology.
Thursday’s sentencing hearing doesn’t end Manafort’s year-and-a-half-long legal saga. He is due in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on March 13 for sentencing on two counts he pleaded guilty to in September, for conspiring to defraud the United States — a conspiracy that covered many of the same financial crimes the jury convicted him of in Virginia — and conspiring to interfere with witnesses. Manafort potentially faces even more time behind bars. The judge in his DC case, US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, has the option of stacking her sentence on top of Ellis’s, or she could run it at the same time. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in his DC case, since each of the two counts carries up to five years in prison.
I remember back when the Manafort trial started and people were worried that Judge Ellis seemed oddly favorable to Manafort, and Judge Ellis seemed to go out of his way to give Manafort’s defense team the benefit of the doubt over and over again. Well, here’s further evidence of that. Less than four years in prison for all of that sh-t? It pays to be a white-collar gangster, huh? Let’s hope that Judge Amy Berman Jackson throws the book at him. But we better prepare ourselves for the idea that Judge Jackson could blow a kiss to Manafort too.
I don’t know if a below guidelines sentence for Manafort is just. I know Judge Ellis repeatedly put a heavy thumb on the scale to undermine the government in front of the jury during the trial, and saw eight convictions come back anyway.
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) March 8, 2019
Paul Manafort is a rich white man who stole millions, tampered witnesses & undermined US democracy. He got 4 years in prison.
Crystal Mason is a black woman who mistakenly cast a ballot in a local election. She got 5 YEARS.
Never tell me there is equal justice in this country. pic.twitter.com/7pHUxny6ig
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) March 8, 2019
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
Twitter was ablaze with news stories about black people going to prison, some for LIFE, for small amounts of weed. In response to this sentencing. I am so sickened by what I read, I really want a Dem candidate to come out and promise they will immediately pardon ALL non-violent drug offenders, and that some small percentage of them will go on to commit violent crimes because some small percentage of any group will go on to commit violent crimes, a small percentage of housewives will go on to commit violent crimes, and they don’t want to hear shit all from white folk when it happens. This is what I want done.
Pardon them all. Release them from prison. You had no right to steal their lives. It is monstrous.
BTW berners call me a neoliberal centrist, because I like money. I guess it all depends on your metrics don’t it? Bernie Sanders when discussing sentencing disparities:
But don’t the african american sell most of the drugs?
Yeah he said that. No to any of this middle of the road racial justice shit. I want a revolution, a real one. Not a cosplay revolution with a bunch of well off whiny white college students crying for free college, so they can graduate, do really well, and 15 years from now decide everyone has to have some skin in the game, and vote for politicians to slash my SS. Because that is what they will do.
Racial justice is the real revolution this country cries out for. How is this even happening without a real revolt????
I hear you. I was feeling your rage and despair yesterday, too, at the disparities. And Republicans had the nerve to call Obama “a divider” when he dared to bring this very topic up. They have the upper hand when it comes to propaganda, I think, which is a big part of the battle.
As for real revolution, I do think, college kids have more on their minds than free tuition. At least I hope most of them do. The students at my son’s university, for example, are working hard on demanding change in regards to how sexual assaults are handled and how survivors are treated (despite Betsy DeVos’s efforts to the contrary). Some are working on gun control.
The white students (many of them, anyway) seem to be fully aware of their privilege. For now, I choose to hope that they will be part of the solution. But yeah it feels really bleak right now. I agree that people should be taking to the streets. I feel like screaming every day.
Agree 100%.
Major bias. No excuse to give less than the minimum. Total BS. Someone needs to check that judge’s finances, cause I suspect he’s received a bribe.
He did make a point of praising Manafort’s “generous” personality…
Some speculate he’d like the next Supreme Court vacancy
He’s too old for that frankly. They want younger ones so they can sit on the bench longer.
An “otherwise blameless life”? Manafort worked for Yanukovych, Marcos, Abacha, Savimbi, and Suharto. The only reason he didn’t work for Hitler is because he was already dead. I am so disgusted with Ellis.
Yes, that comment from Ellis was so incredibly out of line with the facts. It is bewildering that he’d make that claim.
Not only is it FAR shorter than guidelines, it’s shorter than the sentence that HIS OWN DEFENCE COUNSEL asked for!!! This goes beyond affluenza, there is serious corruption here.
White privilege is real.
That’s really interesting!
I didn’t know that, but it’s disturbing. Also, Manafort did not lead a blameless life, he was working for Yanukovych in Ukraine to oppress people. So there’s that.
Wouldn’t you LOVE to have been a fly on the wall in Mueller’s office when the news of that sentence hit?
Wonder if Bob reached for a new file folder…
What NO ONE has said yet, its are we F’d? Does that mean Mueller means NOTHING? Serious dystopian query.
let’s also not forget Manafort will likely be pardoned by Cheetos Mussolini
State attorneys are preparing to lay charges against Manafort. He’ll still be going to jail one way or another, but this sentence was outrageous and Manafort should die in jail for his multiple serious crimes.
Don’t forget the jury was hung on seven charges. Mueller could retry him, and I hope he does.
There was only juror who did not want to convict on those charges. The other 11 voted to convict. That was even indicated on the form, meaning the 11 were a bit ticked… But all 12 voted guilty on the other charges.
So if Mueller wants to retry on those charges, there is a good chance of success. The real problem is The Donald, who is anxious to pardon all his friends. But it looks like Manafort is going to be tied up in court for a while.
I think the judge was just comparing the guidelines to what other big time crooks with similar crimes have received. He really didn’t strike me as in anybody’s pocket. The lesson of course is that if you break the law, do it on a large scale.
I would not be surprised to hear that the Hon Ellis woke up this morning and mysteriously found a big fat check in this checking account, just saying. Anyway, this just show that money talks. A poor man who stole $100 and get 5 years in prison, and Manafort stole tens of millions of dollars and get less than 4 years. This is America my friend, don’t be poor and get caught.
And he would have gotten away with it, if it hadn’t been for those pesky kids. And by “pesky kids” I mean throwing his lot in with King Minus, whose touch turns everything to rotting garbage.
On the plus side, at least there are state level charges still to go…
I wish he got more time. What I also wish is that Kim K would spend some of the money she uses for leopard print jumpsuits and hire some lawyers to get Crystal Mason out of jail.
100%! Less fugly jumpsuits, more social justice, KK!
And this is why I am not overly excited about all the justice that is supposedly about to be handed out.
And right now 45 and his ilk are busily stacking the courts with guys just like Judge Ellis. I hope everyone remembers that at the next election before they decide to throw a tantrum about their candidate not getting in or decide the chosen candidate didn’t pass their personal purity test.
To be honest, in the last election here, if a judge had an R next to his name, I voted for the D, automatically, even with less experience. Don’t care. NO MORE REPUBLITHUGS GET A VOTE! Even for dog catcher (as the saying goes).
This sentence made me sick to my stomach.
Hopefully Judge Berman will make his sentence in this next case consecutive, and NOT concurrent!!
When I saw the headline last night my jaw dropped. I guess I really shouldn’t have been all that surprised but, holy sh*t, that’s one hell of a light sentence for all the crimes he committed (and those are just the ones he didn’t manage to get away with, although with that paltry sentence…)! My husband was incredibly pissed. “47 months?! That man needs to die by firing squad!” A bit dramatic & hyperbolic, but he does have a point.
Bought and paid for by Russia House.
And everyone thinks 45 and his twisted spawn will pay. Insert sad despairing laugh.
Well, we have the power in about 20 months to VOTE out Don the Con and his crime family and friends. They talk about Hillary, saying she was corrupt, although she was never charged with anything remotely corrupt. I bet if she was president we would not be dealing with this blatant corruption. I wish she would change her mind and run 🏃 again. If for no other reason to give Don the Con agitation.
Ughhhhhh this is so disgusting. I screen grabbed that tweet and sent it to a coworker before even realizing it was by my music husband. Mikel Jollett is just dreamy.
I get that he’s old, white, rich, and connected. BUT COME ON. This is an embarrassment.
Hi Erinn
It’s so much more than just an embarrassment. This has wide-reaching repercussions in terms of the message that it sends to The Trump Crime Syndicate ™.
It’s also another debilitating blow to the American people. Judge Ellis is said to be very “eccentric” (a flowery word for asshole). Apparently, he made one of the prosecutors in the Manafort trial cry and reportedly, he told the jury that they don’t really care about these crimes. I can’t help but think that he’s compromised. And I know he was appointed during Regan but this just reminds me that Trump has stacked the lower courts with all his corrupt, conservative appointees. This will affect all of us Americans for YEARS and YEARS.
There is no justice, just us.
There’s just no way he isn’t. I mean – it’s the most probable answer here. If he’s not compromised in a pay-off kind or blackmail kind of way – it would make me very interested in the state of his own finances. Has he done similar shit that he doesn’t see as being a big deal? Who knows. But something isn’t right here.
I really hope the state charges come through at least in a more far-reaching way than these ones have. I just don’t understand how even the defense was asking for more punishment than what was given.
I always appreciate your take on things, Kitten. You’re able to be so level headed while driving a point home, and it always impresses me. I know America is in a horrible situation, and it’s going to take a long time to get out of. But I know people like you, lightpurple, eric, jerusha and SO many others are really pushing for change – hopefully this is just the dark before the dawn <3
Kitten, everything you said. The justice system is democracy’s last hope and ultimate check, and twisted judges like Ellis make it a shambolic mess.
Appalling, and I sincerely hope this is not a sign of what’s coming for the rest of them.
I hope they appeal the sentence. It’s way too low compared to the sentencing guidelines and there are no reasons to justify deviating from them that much. It sounds like someone has gotten to the judge and made a few threats. He’s been under protection for a while too.
People on the twitter machine lost their collective minds yesterday upon hearing the light sentence Manafort received.
People who feel similarly need to take a Xanax. Manafort is going to get another 10 years next week and it’ll run consecutively, per Mueller’s recommendation, with the 4 years he’s serving now. There are still 8 counts to retry if this doesn’t satisfy everyone and state charges to move forward on that are not pardonable by anyone.
I realize that some criminals have been unfairly treated compared to what Manafort was charged with and I’m not saying that Judge Ellis isn’t an irrational judge. But please consider looking into priors (Manafort has none), the actual crimes committed in each case, and the state where the crime was committed and prosecuted.
Please don’t come at me with mansplaing or whitesplaining rubbish. These are actual apples and oranges cases that need full research on background information.
Peace
(And let’s wait until next week when Manafort, nearly 70 years old, is sentenced to death in prison).
I hope what you’re saying is true I really really do. If not this sentence sends a horrible message about his “justice” in the system plays out for different people.
That being said I really think Manafort will die in jail within the next 5 years. He’s been in jail for how long already and dude already looks roughhhh and has gout smh. That’s the only positive I can see with the 4 years he’s got now.
Lynnie
Your second paragraph to God’s ears!
Peace!
🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
Yes and yet it was still well below the sentencing guideline, whose lower range is supposed to account for the ‘first offense,’ etc. modifications.
We’ll have to wait and see, but it confirms the power of a single judge to make a mockery of justice, and in light of Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate’s installation of so many young and conservative judges to the federal system, it’s dismaying.
Eric, while I respect you, and a LOT of your comments, please don’t tell those of us riled up lot take a Xanax “. Not only is that condescending (esp. on International Women’s Day!!), but it is our very indignation that will spur on any kind of change! If we all “took a Xanax” the Blue Wave would’ve never happened!
✌🏻 ❤️
Jan
My apologies. Not meant as a jab but as a colloquialism along the lines of “Xanax nation.”
Cheers and peace.
ellis is an old man, who will presumably be retiring sometime soon. watch for him to be an honored and welcomed guest at mar a lago parties as soon as he moves to florida.
he had a recent case of a professor that had hidden away $220 million in European banks without paying any taxes on it. and good old judge ellis sentenced him to a draconian 7 months in jail for his crimes.
I barely slept last night.
People need to realize that this isn’t just about the vast discrepancy between how low-level drug offenders are treated versus white collar criminals; Manafort’s sentence was WAY LOW compared to similar and even less severe white collar crimes. Like, people who have been convicted of fraud on a much smaller scale could get 10 years. Meanwhile, this man STOLE from American taxpayers, suborned perjury and colluded with Russia and the judge calls him a decent, upstanding guy and sentences him to 4 yrs minus time served.
Beyond that, Manafort NEVER showed an ounce of contrition or remorse.
Didn’t matter. Didn’t matter to judge Ellis AT ALL.
Manafort was under house arrest when any other person would have been in jail. He knew in that moment that the judge would be lenient on him SMDH.
He’ll probably get a job at Faux News when he’s released.
I don’t even know what to do anymore. Laws don’t matter. Morality..ethics.. dead. I’m trying so hard to not cave under the constant shock doctrine nightmare that we are living in but days like yesterday make it so hard. I’m so FUCKING. TIRED. of feeling powerless all the time. Sigh.
Kitten
I hear you.
You’ve got a friend, and plenty more, if you need to bounce shit off of.
We got you and we will all wait, in a collective voodoo stance, for Judge Berman to lower the boom on Mr Walnuts.
Thanks, Eric. You’re one of the few positive voices around here and I always appreciate the pick-me-up. I need all that I can get these days.
Optimism is so welcome.
At the same time, why has Judge Berman not already thrown Roger Stone in jail?
The level of disgust I have with this country anymore is just mind-blowing. We really are the worst of everything capitalism has to offer.
The only silver lining is that he got jail time at all. I was prepared for the absolute worst.
AND Manafort worked for Yanukovych’s party in Ukraine. Manafort claims he was working to “Westernize” the party, but excuse me if I don’t buy what Manafort’s selling.
Kitten, I know how you feel, and I hope it slowly gets better for all of us. My personal goal is to start being more plugged into local politics, because a) we need a strong bench and b) there is a state/local to federal pipeline for the corrupt ones too, and the more we can stem the flow of that, the better.
Does this hurt? Yes. I see it as losing more than we wanted in this small battle–but now we push on to the next one. Manafort slept on the concrete bench in prison again last night. He receives more sentencing next week. And he hasn’t even been charged for giving polling data to Kilimnik yet. I think we just need Manafort out of operation, which he is. I’m focusing now on getting Assange and the Trumps. The public is starting to learn more about everything now that news agencies are finally publishing solid information about our plight. Hard going, for sure, but we just have to press on!
Mr. “Blameless Life” has more spots to fill on his dance card. If he thinks he’s exhausted now, there is more to come.
As for not expressing remorse, it’s hard to shame the shameless. Being out of the social scene and having to pay back millions is likely a greater punishment for someone like this. Being “shunned” is probably more crushing than a longer sentence in a club fed.
This and the fact that Roger Stone is still not in jail despite THREATENING the judge on social media are proof that rich white men can still get away with anything.
This is so gross. The system is completely broken. On the positive side, it’s so obvious even some conservatives are finally admitting it. Did you see David Brooks piece on the case for reperations?
I can hardly contain my disgust. I have no words that haven’t already been said here. No wonder that rat bastard was smug and committing crimes the whole time — HE KNEW THE FIX WAS IN.
F**K this bullsh**!! I am outraged, furious, and shocked at the flagrant disregard for the laws of this nation that EVERYONE ELSE has to follow with the exception of a few–who are literally allowed to sell this country down the river for a few dollars. Seriously, I can’t even see straight this morning. Poop emoji x 10000.
That’s the judge Roger Stone thinks he deserves.
And two more of Trump’s administration have resigned: Bill Shrine, communications director and US Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson. More and more seem to be leaving a sinking ship.
I think Shine resigned to help manage the 2020 shitshow of a trump campaign.
Bill Shine is joining Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign as a senior adviser. Heather Wilson has been appointed the next President of the University of Texas and apparently has nothing to do with any issues at the Pentagon.
Does anyone know–did Maddow cover this last night? I meant to tape her show and forgot.