Analysis: Paul Manafort just escaped a tough sentence, but his lies to prosecutors became more bizarre
By Aaron Blake Aaron Blake Senior political reporter, writing for The Fix Email Bio Follow March 7 at 8:04 PM Ever since special counsel Robert S. Mueller III alleged Paul Manafort lied to prosecutors after cutting a deal, the question has been why: Why jeopardize your cooperation agreement? What could make you risk more years in prison?
Mueller’s team says Manafort never gave meaningful help. The judge noted he spent 50 hours with prosecutors. Manafort was ultimately spared a harsh prison sentence Thursday. Judge T.S. Ellis sentenced him to 47 months in prison, well shy of the 19-24 years that prosecutors had sought for his tax- and bank-fraud convictions. He could still face more jail time in the coming days, when the judge in Washington, D.C., who ruled that he had lied to prosecutors, sentences him in a separate case.
We don’t know most of what he said in those sessions, but we do know that he lied about a few important topics, including one involving an issue at “the heart” of Mueller’s probe.In other words, Manafort lied about something at “the heart” of the probe, but never shared anything new at “the heart” of it, according to prosecutors.
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