Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was ordered today to serve an additional 43 months on federal conspiracy charges.
Let us catch you up:
President Trump said today he hasn’t considered pardoning Paul Manafort, but did not rule out the possibility in the future.
He continued: “It’s not something now that’s on my mind.” Trump reiterated that he felt “badly” for his former aide.
President Trump, speaking from the White House, said he feels “badly” for his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was sentenced to additional prison time and charged with new crimes in New York today.
Without commenting directly on the new charges, Trump lamented his former aides situation.
“On a human basis it’s a sad thing,” he said.
He did not say whether he was considering a pardon for Manafort.
Paul Manafort’s attorney Kevin Downing slammed Judge Amy Berman Jackson, saying she was “incredibly hostile” toward his client.
Downing said he is “disappointed” in the sentence.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office today charged Paul Manafort with mortgage fraud, falsifying business records and conspiracy.
Manafort could face years in prison if he’s convicted for the charges.
The most serious of the charges, residential mortgage fraud, carries a prison sentence of a minimum of one to three years in prison and a maximum of just over eight to 25 years.
One thing to note: If Manafort is convicted for crimes in Manhattan, a presidential pardon wouldn’t apply.
Paul Manafort spoke briefly to Judge Amy Berman Jackson before he was sentenced today to an additional 43 months in prison.
During his remarks, Manafort apologized and said his “behavior in the future will be very different.”
Here’s what he said to the court:
Paul Manafort has been charged with a new criminal case not even an hour after learning his prison sentence for federal crimes.
The Manhattan District Attorney charged Manafort with mortgage fraud, falsifying business records and conspiracy on Wednesday, the prosecutor’s office announced.
A second federal judge had, minutes earlier, determined Manafort spend 7.5 years in total in federal prison for a decade’s worth of financial and lobbying crimes and obstruction of justice.
A grand jury there approved the indictment on March 7.
Manafort had made broad admissions and apologized for his crimes. He has not yet entered a plea in the Manhattan case.
Manafort allegedly committed financial crimes in New York from 2015 through 2018, which stretches over his time as Trump campaign chairman.
Federal prosecutors separately took him to trial last summer over mortgage fraud that began when his Ukrainian lobbying income declined around 2015 and reached into 2017, they said. Manafort even attempting to use his sway as a political heavyweight to lock down money from banks to supplement his income. He later admitted to that activity, federal prosecutors alleged at his trial.
Kevin Downing, Paul Manafort’s attorney, just gave a brief statement outside of the courthouse following the sentencing.
He started by saying Judge Amy Berman Jackson “conceded that there was absolutely no evidence of any Russian collusion in this case.”
“So that makes two courts, two courts have ruled no evidence of any collusion with the Russians,” Downing said.
Protesters nearby started chanting “liar” and heckled Downing as he gave the rest of his statement.
Some background here: President Trump last week weighed in on Manafort’s first sentencing by twisting a federal judge’s words to claim that there was no collusion with Russia in the 2016 campaign. (While the judge noted that Manafort wasn’t accused of collusion and that the trial focused on unrelated financial crimes, he did NOT declare that there was no collusion in 2016.)
Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office announced state fraud charges against Paul Manafort, adding to the legal trouble for Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman who is already facing years in prison on federal charges.
Earlier today, Manafort was sentenced in a DC court to serve an additional 43 months in prison on top of his sentence he received last week from the court in Virginia.
Manafort will serve a total of seven and a half years in prison for two cases.
He has not yet entered a plea in the Manhattan case.
Paul Manafort was not watching during the first part of the hearing, while prosecutor Andrew Weismann described Manafort’s extensive criminal conspiracy and why it deserved a strong sentence.
Weismann spoke for 20 to 30 minutes, and Manafort had his back to the podium for most of the time. On occasion, Manafort stared down at the table in front of him while Weismann was speaking.
Prosecutors described Manafort’s assets, which are important in determining how much money he will pay the IRS and banks he defrauded.
At one point during this conversation, his wife, Kathleen Manafort, shook her head “no.” (She did this a few times last week when prosecutors made their case that Manafort still had millions of dollars and could easily pay restitution and fines.)
Judge Amy Berman Jackson spoke for about 45 minutes in the final session of today’s hearing. By and large, special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors watched closely and attentively. Defense attorney Kevin Downing squirmed around his seat at times while Jackson dressed down his legal strategy and criticized his client. Other defense attorneys were looking down at times while Jackson was speaking.
Manafort’s family didn’t react: As Jackson delivered her sentence, there was really no reaction from Manafort’s small cohort of family and friends that were gathered in the courtroom — even when Jackson specifically mentioned the family and the emotional letters they submitted to the court.
Paul Manafort’s full sentence is seven and a half years between the two courts. It appears he will get credit for time served and for good behavior, which will likely shorten that sentence.
Here’s how it breaks down:
Judge Amy Berman Jackson has ordered Paul Manafort to serve an additional 43 months in prison, on top of his sentence he received last week from the court in Virginia.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson is now correcting statements made about Paul Manafort’s solitary confinement, which was a significant feature of his allocution today.
She said he was in jail not for violating the gag order, but because he broke the bail by breaking the law after his arrest.
Jackson reminded the court he was first sent to Northern Neck Regional Jail, saying she was concerned about how far that jail was, but then Manafort’s team asked for that location. Then he was moved to Alexandria because of their complaints.
She said Manafort “realized the tactic had backfired immediately.” He was in a self-contained (“VIP”) suite in Northern Neck, Jackson added.
“I’m not going to split hairs over whether the word solitary was accurate because he had a room of his own,” Jackson said.
What Manafort’s detention quarters looks like now: Now he’s in protective confinement, not technically solitary. He has a window, radio, newspapers and view of TV. He’s released for a few hours a day to walk around and be with other people
“Mr. Manafort, I don’t want to belittle or minimize the discomforts of prison for you. It’s hard on everyone, young and old, rich or poor,” she said.
Jackson noted she hasn’t received doctors orders about his health issues.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson is now calling out the defense’s memo, which stated that the special counsel was never able to charge Russian collusion (this was their approach to the sentencing memo).
The judge said Manafort’s argument about the Russia investigation won’t affect her sentence.
“The defendant’s insistence” that this shouldn’t have happened to him “is just one more thing that’s inconsistent with the notion of any genuine acceptance of responsibility,” Jackson said.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson took issue with one of the points noted by Paul Manafort’s lawyer Kevin Downing earlier today.
Citing Downing’s words — that but for the special counsel, Manafort wouldn’t have been charged in the first place — Jackson said, “Saying ‘I’m sorry I got caught’ is not an inspiring plea for leniency.”
Jackson talked about how Manafort may not have been repeating some points for the person he was trying to persuade as she put her hands on her chest and not for “some other audience.”
Judge Amy Berman Jackson says she does believe Paul Manafort was sincere today when he spoke about his family and their suffering throughout this ordeal.
Manafort “stepped up in extraordinary ways” to help a niece as a surrogate father. She said this character factors in today’s sentencing, too.
Jackson then cited the key parts of Manafort’s defense pleading before sentencing, specifically when his defense team wrote, “Mr. Manafort spent his life advancing American ideals and principles.”
“There aren’t really any exhibits or letters that go along with that,” she said, assessing that argument.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson expressed that she was not happy with how Paul Manafort approached the final stretch of this case.
She said Manafort has begun to “minimize his conduct and shield others.”
Jackson admitted she couldn’t tell from an FBI document if Manafort was actually asserting false facts or not.
Jackson believes he’s repeating a lie in his sentencing memo.
She went on to say that Manafort believed he had the right to manipulate the court proceedings and that he’s made overblown statements about where he was housed in jail when it was his benefit to do so.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson spoke directly to Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, about foreign lobbying, saying that he was lying directly to Americans and Congress.
Manafort was watching Jackson with no smile, almost sheepishly.
She then moved on to describing the witness tampering offense against Manafort.
Jackson said Manafort “immediately began reaching out to witnesses” involved in Hapsburg group to “remind them” all the work in Europe he did.
“He isn’t being straight with me now” about it, she said.
Jackson continued: “He did not plead guilty to contacting witnesses. He pled guilty to conspiring” with his Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik to contact the witnesses.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson is addressing the court right now.
In her remarks about Paul Manafort, she said “the defendant is not public enemy No. 1. He’s not a victim either.”
Jackson went on to say “the briefing and the argument — to a lesser extent today” has been marked by “hyperbole” and intensity.
An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated the Berman said Manafort is “not victim No. 1.”
At the top of her remarks, Judge Amy Berman Jackson was quick to say that today’s sentencing “will not incriminate anyone” in the ongoing investigation.
Court has resumed after a short recess.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson took the bench at 11:20 a.m. ET.
Paul Manafort just wrapped up his statement.
The court is taking a break now. We’ll let you know when the hearing starts again.
Paul Manafort spoke about his family during his statement to the judge.
“Your honor, I will be 70 years old in a few weeks,” he said, mentioning that his wife in 66 and he is her primary caregiver.
He asked that he not be apart from his wife “longer than the 47 months imposed last week.”
Paul Manafort has begun his allocution, and it started with an apology.
Manafort has a prepared statement with him, and he has put on his glasses. He remains seated in his wheelchair.
“Let me be very clear, I accept the responsibility for the acts that caused me to be here today,” he said. “While I cannot undo the past, I can assure the future will be very different.”
Manafort said he is upset with himself “for these personal failures” and said his time in jail over the last nine months have helped him reflect.
“My behavior in the future will be very different. I have already begun to change,” he said.
Kevin Downing, a lawyer for Paul Manafort, said during arguments “but for” the 2016 election, he doesn’t believe they would be in this situation today.
Downing mentioned “political motivations” around the case, and said he wants the court to consider the media and political whirlwhind outside when sentencing.
“But for” the 2016 election, he doesn’t think they’d be there today.
The defense team has begun its sentencing arguments.
Kevin Downing, one of Paul Manafort’s lawyers, brought up the “sealed” part of the Manafort’s interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, who was one of his closest business contacts and a Russia-based political operative. Downing again talked about their interactions with the US State Department in Ukraine.
His notice about the foreign lobbying activities “was out there,” Downing said.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson asked if only Kilimnik was in touch with State Department in Kiev. Downing said no — Manafort was, too.
Officials “at the highest level” of the US government knew about Manafort’s activities, he said.
Paul Manafort will address the court, his lawyers said.
He will “show he is truly sorry for violating the law” his lawyer Kevin Downing said.
Prosecutors just wrapped their final sentencing arguments, but they did not ask for a specific amount of time for a possible prison sentence.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson can sentence Paul Manafort to up to 10 years.
Prosecutors again laid out Manafort’s violations in their arguments, asking the Jackson to “stop and think” about Manafort’s conduct with regards to the witness tampering allegation.
Prosecutor Andrew Weissman said that Manafort engaged in criminal conduct that “goes to the heart of the American justice system” — and that all came “after being indicted, while on bail from two federal courts in a high profile matter.”
Weissman said Manafort “chose to lie over and over again” to both FBI agents and grand jurors.
During all of this, Jackson sat leaning back in her chair, listening.
In his final sentencing argument, prosecutor Andrew Weissman said Paul Manafort “had to make a choice” — and he decided to work for other countries instead of for the US.
Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann is making final sentencing argument now.
Here’s the first sentence of it, which he’s reading from a paper at the podium: “We’re here today because of crimes Paul Manafort committed for over a decade.”
Weissmann mentions the foreign bank accounts, and includes that some money came from Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch who came up in proceedings but never registered in the meat of the case, which was largely about Ukrainian politicians
Weissmann asks restitution of $6 million from Jackson.
“Mr. Manafort committed crimes that undermined our political process.”
Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she is going to let both sides argue what they think the sentence should be for Paul Manafort.
Jackson says she has signed the agreed order of forfeiture for $11 million. She offered Manafort a small reprieve: That Manafort has met his burden, gives him credit for pleading and giving sworn admissions in court.
However, her determination that he legally accepted responsibility isn’t a judgment of character: That will come later from Jackson today, she said. His acceptance responsibility, per her determination so far, is not “in a more existential and personal sense.”
What the defense team is saying: Manafort’s lawyers said he accepted responsibility by pleading guilty.
What prosecutors are saying: Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann argued the flip side, pointing out that Manafort tried to argue he wasn’t a leader of the conspiracy — that Manafort tried to say it was just him and Rick Gates involved in the scheme. That’s not correct, Weissmann said, and should be considered regarding acceptance of responsibility.
Manafort made “false statements to the FBI and false statements to the grand jury repeatedly” Weissmann reminded Judge Jackson.
What Manafort is doing throughout all of this: Manafort has been sitting exceptionally still in his wheelchair. He has one arm on the table, pushed slightly away from it and turned so he doesn’t have anyone — including the judge — in his gaze. He is either looking at the wall or has his eyes closed as Weissmann speaks.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson addressed whether Paul Manafort was a leader of the criminal activity.
Why this matters: This factors into his sentence recommendations. They’ve got to settle the numbers on this for legal reasons — even with the 10-year cap — before she determines his actual sentence.
She took up Manafort’s request to reconsider her breach of plea determination, related to Rick Gates and the Aug. 2 meeting. She said even though the defense had a point, she still finds the Special Counsel’s Office was correct, and that Manafort gave intentionally gave false statements about his 2016 interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, who was one of his closest business contacts and a Russia-based political operative.
Manafort’s lawyer pushed back and said their position is that Manafort did accept responsibility.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson — who can sentence Paul Manafort to a maximum of 10 years today — just outlined how she is sentencing Manafort for two charges today.
“No charge carries the potential maximum sentence the defendant was facing for bank fraud in the other case,” Jackson said. (That max was 30 years.)
Judge Jackson said they’ve got two issues to discuss today:
Jackson made clear she is not handling Manafort’s tax and bank fraud crimes, which he was sentenced for last week.
“What’s happening today cannot be … a review or revision of what’s happening in another court,” Jackson said.
Paul Manafort’s defense team argued in a recently filed sentencing memo that the former Trump campaign manager should serve less than the 10-year maximum total.
Manafort’s lawyers asked that his sentence in DC run alongside his sentence in Virginia, instead of stacking the two sentences consecutively. Manafort pleaded guilty to his crimes as a part of a cooperation agreement.
“His case is not about murder, drug cartels, organized crime, the Madoff Ponzi scheme or the collapse of Enron,” Manafort’s defense attorneys wrote in the sentencing memo.
Manafort has been in jail since June 2018 for a witness tampering allegation to which he admitted.
Paul Manafort is in the Washington, DC, courtroom ahead of his sentencing.
He is again in a wheelchair, but he’s wearing a suit this time, unlike his last sentencing last week. Manafort isn’t under the same condition that Judge T.S. Ellis set, where he was forced to keep the inmate scrubs on when there was no jury around.
The prosecutors are also in the courtroom. Meanwhile, more than 70 journalists, prosecutors, clerks and members of the public are congregated in the hallway outside the courtroom.
Paul Manafort’s family and friends wrote letters on his behalf to Judge Amy Berman Jackson before his sentencing today.
The letters paint the imprisoned former political operative as a successful, generous and empowering colleague and father — and an asset to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Here’s what Doug Davenport, a friend and colleague, wrote to Jackson:
In other letters to the judge submitted Monday, his wife, Kathleen, called him “the rock the family has relied on for years.”
“I love him very much,” she wrote. She attended nearly all of his major court hearings and his three-week criminal trial in summer 2018 for financial fraud, in which he was first convicted.
His daughter, other relatives and a neighbor who testified against him at his Virginia trial also wrote to Jackson, asking for mercy. One friend noted how Manafort coached youth basketball; another described how Manafort served as an altar boy in elementary school.
Paul Manafort will be sentenced today by Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who can give him a maximum of 10 years.
Today’s hearing is poised to rehash the long and difficult road Manafort has had in her Washington, DC, courtroom and with prosecutors from special counsel Robert Mueller’s office.
So how harsh will Jackson be? Manafort has far more reason to fear Jackson’s judgment than Judge T.S. Ellis, who during last week’s sentencing said Manafort has “lived an otherwise blameless life.”
In the Virginia case, it was a straightforward proceeding leading up to trial and through the trial. Manafort never crossed Ellis’s line in that court and faced a relatively humdrum set of financial charges. Ellis also spoke to prosecutors more harshly than Manafort, and even publicly described his displeasure with the special counsel office’s pursuits.
In Jackson’s court, the climate is planets away.
For one, she reprimanded Manafort’s attorney Kevin Downing repeatedly for acting or speaking out of turn.
At a recent sealed hearing, Downing’s and Jackson’s raised voices could be heard outside the courtroom. Jackson even warned Downing, “Don’t. Don’t,” when he tried to raise news coverage of Manafort’s Virginia trial. She’s also warned him of being smug and overbearing and, most recently, called defense tactics “disingenuous.”
And that’s just Manafort’s lawyer.
Manafort broke the bail terms Jackson set, flouted the gag order she set, tampered with witnesses while out on bail and then broke the plea agreement she had accepted by lying. The case has dragged on for almost 17 months, with more than 500 filings and numerous denials of Manafort’s defense.
Jackson sent Manafort to jail in June.
Today’s sentencing marks the second in less than week for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Manafort learned on Thursday that he will serve almost four years in prison — far short of what had been expected and recommended — for financial fraud convictions obtained by special counsel Robert Mueller as he investigated Manafort’s alleged collusion with the Russian government in 2016.
The crimes, though serious among white-collar offenses, did not relate directly to Manafort’s work as Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman.
Manafort, 69, had been facing up to 25 years in prison, a sentence that could have essentially kept him in jail for the rest of his life.
