SECRET AGENT MANAFORT

This has been quite the day for Trump-related lawsuits.  Roger Stone.  Michael Cohen.  And the one we've been waiting for all day:  Paul Manafort.

Manafort's sentence hearing has just concluded.  If you were expecting a circus out of Judge Ellis in Virginia, you probably weren't disappointed.







Of course not.  All together now:  THERE WAS NO COLLUSION!  How many times does His Lardship have to tell us?






Sad!




Sad.



There you go.  Smart move.  Suck up to that judge.  He seems like the kind who'll appreciate it.

Reminds me of the attorney in whose office I worked coming back from trial laughing one day; said the defense attorney got up and opened with, "Your honor, my client is very, very sorry."




A bridge too far!  Who the fuck is he kidding?



He may not have expressed remorse, but he flattered the judge, so that ought to count for something.

And, it did.



"Otherwise blameless life"????  Is the judge aware of Manafort's ties to Russian mobsters?  I know he's aware of the collusion case against him, because he reminded everybody this wasn't about that.

Anyway it SERIOUSLY worked.  The guidelines for sentencing him stood at 19-24 years.  But...


That's a sweet, sweet deal.  Especially considering how he screwed the Mueller team with that pretense to cooperate, not to mention the charges of defrauding banks and the government and failing to pay taxes on millions.  This is not a good example to set for other cooperators or fraudsters.  I hope Judge Ellis is getting good cash for his efforts.

Next Manafort goes before Judge Jackson.  She may not be so easily flattered.



The max is 10 years in Jackson's court.

UPDATE:

UPDATE:

Ordinarily I would absolutely agree.  But this is not your normal white collar criminal who got busted.  This is a man who spent years working against the interests of the United States and for international mobsters.  I realize this case did not involve collusion with Russia, but it did involve tax fraud and money laundering, both of which are harmful to the country and pose a security risk.  Also, he didn't stop trying to commit crimes, including witness tampering, and made a fake cooperation deal.  He can't be trusted on the outside.

UPDATE 3/8:

He MUST be surprised, since he thinks Manafort was such a good guy.  Surprised, but not disgusted.  Not even disappointed?