Trump ex-aide Manafort hit with 3-1/2 more years in prison, new charges

[webfact]

Trump ex-aide Manafort hit with 3-1/2 more years in prison, new charges

By Andy Sullivan and Jan Wolfe

 

FILE PHOTO: Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort departs from U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S., February 28, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced to about 3-1/2 more years in prison and was hit with a fresh set of criminal charges in New York on Wednesday, drawing sympathy from a president who declined to say whether he would issue a pardon.

 

Manafort, 69, is due to spend a total of 7-1/2 years behind bars when the sentence by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson for crimes related to secret lobbying and witness tampering is combined with another of just under four years issued by a different judge in Virginia last Thursday. He has already served nine months of the sentence.

 

The veteran Republican operative has received the longest prison term yet in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

 

It amounts to a sharp fall for a man who earned millions of dollars as an international political consultant to pro-Russia politicians in Ukraine and dodged more than $6 million in taxes by hiding his income in offshore bank accounts.

 

That money could have been used by the government to help pay for veterans' hospitals and other services, Jackson told Manafort, who was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair because of a condition called gout.

 

"Why? Not to support a family, but to sustain a lifestyle at the most opulent and extravagant level possible. More houses than one family can enjoy. More suits than one man can wear," Jackson said, referring to Manafort's previous luxuries.

 

Just minutes after Jackson read her sentence, the Manhattan district attorney unveiled a separate indictment charging Manafort with residential mortgage fraud and other New York state crimes, which unlike the federal charges cannot be erased by a presidential pardon. Manafort faces up to 25 years in prison on the three most serious charges.

 

"No one is beyond the law in New York," District Attorney Cyrus Vance, a Democrat, said in a statement.

 

Trump, who in November said he had not ruled out giving Manafort a pardon, on Wednesday said that "I have not even given it a thought."

 

"It's not something that's right now in my mind. I do feel badly for Paul Manafort - that I can tell you," the Republican president told reporters at the White House.

 

Trump has called Mueller's investigation a "witch hunt," and Manafort's lawyers have argued that this case does nothing to prove that the campaign conspired with Russia. They have noted that the crimes sending him to prison stem from his lobbying work, not his time with Trump's campaign.

 

"But for a short stint as a campaign manager in a presidential election, I don't think we'd be here today," Manafort lawyer Kevin Downing told Jackson.

 

Jackson suggested that the "'no collusion' mantra" was simply aimed at winning a pardon from Trump. Jackson added that Mueller's ongoing investigation could yet reveal that Manafort worked with Russian interests during the campaign.

 

'A HARSH LESSON'

Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said Manafort had engaged in an extensive cover-up that deceived the U.S. government and the American public, and continued to try to undermine the investigation even after he pleaded guilty.

 

"He engaged in crime again and again. He has not learned a harsh lesson. He has served to undermine, not promote, American ideals," Weissmann said.

 

Manafort, clad in a dark suit and a purple tie instead of the jail garb he wore to his Virginia sentencing, apologised for his actions and asked Jackson not to impose any prison time on top of the 47 months he was given by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis in Alexandria.

 

"This case has taken everything from me already - my properties, my cash, my life insurance, trust accounts for my children and grandchildren, and even more," Manafort said.

 

"Saying 'I'm sorry I got caught' is not an inspiring plea for leniency," the judge told Manafort.

 

She also said Manafort's expression of remorse rang hollow.

 

"It's hard to overstate the number of lies and the amount of fraud and the extraordinary amount of money involved," Jackson said.

 

Jackson had ruled on Feb. 13 that Manafort breached his agreement to cooperate with Mueller's office by lying to prosecutors about matters pertinent to the Russia probe including his interactions with a business partner they have said has ties to Russian intelligence.

 

Jackson's sentence builds on what many legal experts called the surprisingly lenient sentence from Ellis when Manafort was sentenced for his August 2018 tax fraud and bank fraud convictions - far shy of federal sentencing guidelines. Ellis last week praised Manafort's "otherwise blameless life."

 

The sentence Manafort received from Jackson was well below the 10 years he could have faced for the two criminal counts to which he pleaded guilty in September 2018.

 

Jackson showed little sympathy for the argument by Manafort's lawyers that his failure to disclose lobbying activity on behalf of Ukraine was little more than a paperwork error.

 

In a chaotic scene outside the courthouse, Downing said Mueller's two cases against his client had shown "no evidence of any collusion with Russians," as protesters called Manafort a "traitor" and a "liar."

 

Mueller is preparing to submit to U.S. Attorney General William Barr a report on his investigation into whether Trump's campaign conspired with Russia and whether Trump has unlawfully sought to obstruct the probe. Trump has denied collusion and obstruction and Russia has denied U.S. intelligence findings that it interfered in the election to boost Trump.

 

Manafort is one of the 34 people and three companies charged by Mueller. Others who have pleaded guilty include former campaign aides Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos, former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen. Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone has pleaded not guilty.

 

(Additional reporting by Karen Freifeld and Nathan Layne in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-03-14

 

[neeray]

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•  #1

Posted 17 minutes ago

25 minutes ago, webfact said:

"But for a short stint as a campaign manager in a presidential election, I don't think we'd be here today," Manafort lawyer Kevin Downing told Jackson.

Said so many times, persons who have chosen to associate with Trump very often end up as toxic waste.

Had it not been for his short stint as Trump campaign manager, his many dirty little secrets may have stayed "secret".

Unlike Trump, I have no pity for him.

[TopDeadSenter]

 I am not a lawyer. But, surely the Manafort trials - as a spin-off trial from the "get Trump colluding with Russia" witch-hunt and long running fallacy, should be null and void. It's a simple principle. The fruit of the poisoned tree. There was no collusion, the dodgy paid for Steele dossier set the poisoned ball rolling and everything it touched must now be pardoned. You don't head out on a duck hunt and return with rabbits.

 

 My advise to Trump is wait a few days until some other crisis engulfs the dems - maybe Ms Omar in another antisemitic row? - and get him pardoned and released. 

[neeray]

I'm not a lawyer either but I do watch a lot of news. Trump can not pardon Manafort from state level charges.

As for the rest of your post, very creative rationale. And for your ducks and rabbits, try this one.

If a cop pulls me over for a traffic violation and while standing at the side of my door sees a 44 on the passenger front seat or a hog tied person in my back seat, does he just ignore all but the traffic violation?

Hmm

[Lungstib]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

a man who earned millions of dollars as an international political consultant to pro-Russia politicians in Ukraine and dodged more than $6 million in taxes by hiding his income in offshore bank accounts.

 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Not to support a family, but to sustain a lifestyle at the most opulent and extravagant level possible. More houses than one family can enjoy. More suits than one man can wear,

Am I alone in feeling that the above could be said of a big number of the wealthy elite currently not under investigation or threat of arrest. Facebook and Google earn billions from China and have gone as far as to revise their platform to please that country. Private 747's, mansions in several countries and opulent and extravagant lifestyles are the 'new normal' for billionaires showing off their success. I would suggest Manafort is not alone in his cover-ups and deception when it comes to avoiding tax and stashing billions in offshore accounts.  (And I am not a fan, nor a Trump lover.)

[klauskunkel]

Does Trump have to give him two pardons now?

[neeray]

46 minutes ago, Lungstib said:

 

Am I alone in feeling that the above could be said of a big number of the wealthy elite currently not under investigation or threat of arrest. Facebook and Google earn billions from China and have gone as far as to revise their platform to please that country. Private 747's, mansions in several countries and opulent and extravagant lifestyles are the 'new normal' for billionaires showing off their success. I would suggest Manafort is not alone in his cover-ups and deception when it comes to avoiding tax and stashing billions in offshore accounts.  (And I am not a fan, nor a Trump lover.)

Unquestionably, you are not alone. Conceivably, there are many thousand just as guilty as he is. But they never got caught (yet).

 

[johnnykak]

whats with the right wing dead- head on here? lol. were the grateful dead right wing? lol. must from the in the dark crowd lol. maybe he can tell us that jerry garcia was really a right wing patriot infiltrating the left lol. 

[Chomper Higgot]

A bit more detail on what the judge had to say wrt ‘No Collusion’:

 

“The ‘no collusion’ refrain that runs through the entire defense memorandum is unrelated to matters at hand,” Jackson said. “The ‘no collusion’ mantra is simply a non-sequitur.”

 

And how, after the trial, Manafort’s lawyers ‘misrepresented’ the judge’s statement: 

 

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/13/18264178/kevin-downing-manafort-collusion-judge-jackson

 

Which begs the question.

 

Having failed in their defence of their client, why did Manafort’s lawyers feel the need to ‘misrepresent’ what the judge had said about the claims of ‘no collusion’?

 

Either, they did so for Manafort, or they did so for some other reason.

 

The latter is not likely and the trial is over, so again why do they feel the need to ‘misrepresent’ the judge’s words on Manafort’s behalf?

 

My guess, they know Manafort has yet to face more charges and that those charges relate to ‘collusion’.

 

 

Reminder:

 

Manafort hand picked Flynn and Pence to join Trump’s Campaign.

 

 

This isn’t over

[neeray]

[Berkshire]

1 hour ago, Lungstib said:

 

Am I alone in feeling that the above could be said of a big number of the wealthy elite currently not under investigation or threat of arrest. Facebook and Google earn billions from China and have gone as far as to revise their platform to please that country. Private 747's, mansions in several countries and opulent and extravagant lifestyles are the 'new normal' for billionaires showing off their success. I would suggest Manafort is not alone in his cover-ups and deception when it comes to avoiding tax and stashing billions in offshore accounts.  (And I am not a fan, nor a Trump lover.)

You are correct, Manafort is not alone.  Nor is Trump alone, in so far as being a swindler and criminal.  Yes, there are many criminals out there and law enforcement will get a few.  I hope you're not saying that since there are so many criminals walking around free, Manafort should also walk....?  In fact, what is your point? 

[Tug]

Thease trumpers are so funny with their no collusion delusion then you get Donald spouting off do thease people really believe this bs after what the judge said oh and Paul picked up a state case Donald can’t help you there 

[Nyezhov]

1 hour ago, Lungstib said:

I would suggest Manafort is not alone in his cover-ups and deception when it comes to avoiding tax and stashing billions in offshore accounts.  (And I am not a fan, nor a Trump lover.)

Hell Lionel Messi just plead guilty!

[Becker]

2 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 I am not a lawyer. But, surely the Manafort trials - as a spin-off trial from the "get Trump colluding with Russia" witch-hunt and long running fallacy, should be null and void. It's a simple principle. The fruit of the poisoned tree. There was no collusion, the dodgy paid for Steele dossier set the poisoned ball rolling and everything it touched must now be pardoned. You don't head out on a duck hunt and return with rabbits.

 

 My advise to Trump is wait a few days until some other crisis engulfs the dems - maybe Ms Omar in another antisemitic row? - and get him pardoned and released. 

Yes, indeed. Like if the police suspected that a person was involved in a murder but during the course of the investigation found four little girls used as sex slaves tied up in his basement.

Just ignore it since it had nothing to do with the original suspicions because "You don't head out on a duck hunt and return with rabbits!"

You and those who have "liked" your post are a sad, sad bunch.

[Berkshire]

3 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

  My advise to Trump is wait a few days until some other crisis engulfs the dems - maybe Ms Omar in another antisemitic row? - and get him pardoned and released. 

Your idea?  A pardon cannot save him.  Manafort is going to jail, either for federal or state charges.  You should realize that there are people out there a bit smarter than you...

 

[New York prosecutors announce charges against former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort, shortly after his sentencing in a federal case.]

[President Donald Trump cannot issue pardons for state charges.]

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/13/paul-manafort-indicted-by-ny-prosecutors-after-federal-sentencing.html

 

 

[Proboscis]

3 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 I am not a lawyer. But, surely the Manafort trials - as a spin-off trial from the "get Trump colluding with Russia" witch-hunt and long running fallacy, should be null and void. It's a simple principle. The fruit of the poisoned tree. There was no collusion, the dodgy paid for Steele dossier set the poisoned ball rolling and everything it touched must now be pardoned. You don't head out on a duck hunt and return with rabbits.

 

 My advise to Trump is wait a few days until some other crisis engulfs the dems - maybe Ms Omar in another antisemitic row? - and get him pardoned and released. 

There are several problems with that, including that if Trump does not win the 2020 Presidential election, he himself could be done for perverting the course of justice by pardoning Manafort. Besides, local charges are not pardonable by the president. It looks like the city of New York will indict him for the mortgage fraud and other charges and that the President cannot pardon him for.

[helpisgood]

4 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

It's a simple principle. The fruit of the poisoned tree.

 

FYI, the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine, which is an extension of the exclusionary rule of evidence, is not relevant to your discussion.  

 

Of course, Wikipedia can provide some guidance, but the following link gets one more "into the weeds":

 

https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/what-does-fruit-of-the-poisonous-tree- mean-in-criminal-proceedings-35403

 

I have just found a shorter and clearer definition from Cornell Law School:

 

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fruit_of_the_poisonous_tree

 

As you admit, you are not a lawyer and thus likely did not attend a criminal procedure class.  So, I strongly recommend that you stick to more layman terminology to advance your argument(s).  The legal terms can be deceptively and understandably tricky by the way that they are worded. 

 

Also, if this does have to do with your point, my understanding of Manafort's trial verdicts are that they did not include any acquittals of any of the Russian collusion (the real legal term is "conspiracy," by the way) charges or accusations that have been much discussed in the press.  Manafort was convicted on other crimes.

 

Nice try, however.

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, Proboscis said:

There are several problems with that, including that if Trump does not win the 2020 Presidential election, he himself could be done for perverting the course of justice by pardoning Manafort. 

He could be, unless he pardons himself. There is some debate about whether a President can do that.

[Basil B]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

That money could have been used by the government to help pay for veterans' hospitals and other services, Jackson told Manafort, who was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair because of a condition called gout.

The money could have been used to build another prison... 

[Srikcir]

4 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

get him pardoned and released

Not a good idea, especially before the next POTUS election.

No man stands above the law.

• Senate Republicans are warning President Trump that it would be a serious mistake to pardon his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/403062-republicans-warn-trump-against-manafort-pardon
• Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said Sunday that it would be a "terrible mistake" if President Donald Trump were to pardon his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and that doing so could trigger a debate about the limits of presidential powers. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/12/09/marco-rubio-warns-against-manafort-pardon/2257528002/

A Manafort pardon would prevent him from pleading the Fifth Amendment in some instances, and Mueller could deem the pardoning itself obstruction of justice on Trump’s part. https://www.vox.com/2018/6/1/17413062/trump-pardon-dsouza-manafort-mueller-cohen

A pardoned Manafort refusing to testify, ie., before the House intelligence Committee, without the 5th Amendment privilege will net him a criminal charge of obstruction of justice (again) and jail (again).

 

[puck2]

5 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 <------>

 

 My advise to Trump is wait a few days until some other crisis engulfs the dems - maybe Ms Omar in another antisemitic row? - and get him pardoned and released. 

You are right:

 

a criminal LOTUS (liar Of The....) should reward a criminal for his criminal actions  !

Did you read this in your Trump-bible or in his book how to make a deal?

[johnnybangkok]

6 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 I am not a lawyer. But, surely the Manafort trials - as a spin-off trial from the "get Trump colluding with Russia" witch-hunt and long running fallacy, should be null and void. It's a simple principle. The fruit of the poisoned tree. There was no collusion, the dodgy paid for Steele dossier set the poisoned ball rolling and everything it touched must now be pardoned. You don't head out on a duck hunt and return with rabbits.

 

 My advise to Trump is wait a few days until some other crisis engulfs the dems - maybe Ms Omar in another antisemitic row? - and get him pardoned and released. 

I think we could all guess that you're 'not a lawyer' as that has to be the most asinine argument I have every heard in my life. So by your reckoning you can only be charged with a crime if the people investigating are looking only for that exact crime? So the murderer gets off because they were only looking for a kidnapper; the arsonist gets off as they were only looking for a burglar; the pedophile gets off as they were only looking for a rapist.  

You've said some crazy stuff in the past but you've excelled yourself here. Please take a bow!

Oh and by the way, as stated many, many, many times before, the Mueller investigation isn't and was never about 'Trump colluding with Russia' but rather investigating links or co-ordination between the Russian government and the Trump campaign  to cover 5 very specific topics; financial dealings, Russian interference, campaign coordination, transition contacts and obstruction of justice. And as far as ‘witch hunts go, it’s done a pretty good job with 5 convictions and 28 indictments to include five former Trump advisers, 26 Russian nationals, three Russian companies, one California man, and one London-based lawyer. 

It might not get Trump (still to be seen) but you can be damned sure that as the guy at the top, he's as guilty as the rest of them.

[bendejo]

3 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Having failed in their defence of their client, why did Manafort’s lawyers feel the need to ‘misrepresent’ what the judge had said about the claims of ‘no collusion’?

 

So when Fox News covers the trial they have something happy to play on tv.  That's what the story will be for them, and for those who don't get additional news from elsewhere.  Their viewers don't get to see the "hey! that's not what she said!" responses.  It keeps the witch hunt claim alive.

 

Kind of dumb (sort of the overall assessment these days) because all but the most stupid Americans (app. 35% of the population. aka the base) have figured out by now what a corrupt piece of orange-faced work he is, and DT sort of knows that.  He plays moronic moves to convince them stay on, and they rationalize for him (you've seen superb examples of that in here).  And they all know 35% constitutes a majority. 

 

 

[elmrfudd]

And yet podesta is not under investigation for the same thing..... No double standard here.... Move on. 

 

How many in DC do the same thing and don't register as lobbying for a foreign country? 

[bristolboy]

7 minutes ago, elmrfudd said:

And yet podesta is not under investigation for the same thing..... No double standard here.... Move on. 

 

How many in DC do the same thing and don't register as lobbying for a foreign country? 

Podesta committed massive income tax evasion?

[Thakkar]

6 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 I am not a lawyer. But, surely the Manafort trials - as a spin-off trial from the "get Trump colluding with Russia" witch-hunt and long running fallacy, should be null and void. It's a simple principle. The fruit of the poisoned tree. There was no collusion, the dodgy paid for Steele dossier set the poisoned ball rolling and everything it touched must now be pardoned. You don't head out on a duck hunt and return with rabbits.

 

 My advise to Trump is wait a few days until some other crisis engulfs the dems - maybe Ms Omar in another antisemitic row? - and get him pardoned and released. 

 

“You don't head out on a duck hunt and return with rabbits.”

 

When you sit down for a bowel movement, and feel some imminent urination coming, do you hold the urination because that’s not what you were there for?

[Chomper Higgot]

17 minutes ago, elmrfudd said:

And yet podesta is not under investigation for the same thing..... No double standard here.... Move on. 

 

How many in DC do the same thing and don't register as lobbying for a foreign country? 

But...but....but

 

[edit]

 

To be fair, Kushner ranks in your ‘How many...’.

 

But don’t fret, he’ll get his turn.

 

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

10 minutes ago, Thakkar said:

 

“You don't head out on a duck hunt and return with rabbits.”

 

When you sit down for a bowel movement, and feel some imminent urination coming, do you hold the urination because that’s not what you were there for?

The quality of discussion here on TVF is improving.

 

I never thought I see James Joyce’s Ulysses paraphrased in a TVF political discussion.

 

 

[farcanell]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

who was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair because of a condition called gout.

Lucky man..... seven more years of incarceration without 1000 dollar bottles of booze and fancy pants food, will undoubtedly help with the gout.... so... rehab really.... again, lucky man (but I doubt he will be appreciative... ????)

[Thakkar]

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The quality of discussion here on TVF is improving.

 

I never thought I see James Joyce’s Ulysses paraphrased in a TVF political discussion.

 

 

????

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