Why did the judge so carefully point out that they weren’t there for collusion? Baffling innit?
Once I heard that, I knew he wasn't going to get that 19 years.
One more time. Mueller dug this case up from the dead files of the DOJ. This exact case, with a few years of tax returns added on to it,
was put aside by the DOJ in 2009. The DOJ decided not to prosecute him.
Mueller pulled up that case, because he was going to use it to squeeze Manafort into lying for MUeller. This Judge knew that from the outset.
The Judge hated this case. If Manafort didn't get hit with that other lying to Fed Agents charge, after his plea deal, he probably would
have gotten a sentence of 5 years probation and time served.
And I wouldn't worry too much about his prison time. He won't be at Alcatraz or Sing-Sing. He'll be confined in some barracks type setting. They would
never put a 70-year old, who currently is in a wheel chair in a maximum security location. He'll be in some minimum detention center. He'll have visitors
every weekend and get a w/e furlough from time to time. He only has to handle it thru the 2020 election. Then win, lose or draw he'll be pardoned
after that election. Not only for this crime, but the other one in DC where sentencing is next week.