The Latest: Manafort's sentencing hearing underway in DC
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the sentencing of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort (all times local):
8 p.m.
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been sentenced to a total of seven and a half years in prison, then hit almost immediately with fresh state charges in New York that could put him outside the president’s power to pardon.
In Washington, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson brushed aside Manafort’s pleas for leniency and rebuked him for misleading the U.S. government about his lucrative foreign lobbying work and for encouraging witnesses to lie on his behalf.
Jackson added three-and-a-half years on top of the nearly four-year sentence Manafort received last week in a separate case in Virginia, though he’ll get credit for nine months already served.
The sentencing hearing was a milestone in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election campaign.
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3:05 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he feels “very badly” for his former campaign chairman after Paul Manafort was sentenced to an additional 3½ years in prison.
Trump was responding to the news Wednesday that Manafort has now been sentenced to a total of 7½ years in prison on charges he misled the government over his foreign lobbying work and encouraged witnesses to lie on his behalf.
Trump says: “On a human basis, it’s a very sad thing.”
Trump also insisted he’s not currently considering a Manafort pardon, saying: “I have not even given it a thought as of this moment.”
After Manafort was sentenced in federal court Wednesday, an indictment was unsealed in New York charging him with state crimes, including a residential mortgage fraud scheme.
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12:45 p.m.
Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been indicted in New York on state charges, seen as a strategy for preventing a potential presidential pardon.
An indictment unsealed Wednesday in Manhattan accuses the 69-year-old Manafort of conducting a yearlong residential mortgage fraud scheme that netted millions of dollars.
The indictment filed March 7 was unsealed the same day Manafort was sentenced in Washington in the second of two federal cases against him.
He would serve more than seven years in prison in those cases. Trump has repeatedly defended him and floated the idea of granting a pardon, but would not be able to do so in a state case.
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12:15 p.m.
A federal judge has sentenced former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to more than 3 1/2 additional years in prison.
That’s on top of the roughly four-year sentence he received in a separate case in Virginia last week.
The sentence followed a scathing assessment by the judge and a prosecutor of Manafort’s crimes.
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10:55 a.m.
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is apologizing for his crimes.
Manafort, 69, betrayed no emotion as he read his statement in federal court Wednesday from his wheelchair.
The judge said she’d give Manafort credit for accepting responsibility for his crimes when she determines his sentence.
It’s the former Trump campaign chairman’s second sentencing in as many weeks, with a judge expected to tack on additional prison time beyond the roughly four-year punishment he has already received.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has prosecuted Manafort in Washington and in Virginia related to his foreign consulting work on behalf of a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party. Manafort was convicted of bank and tax fraud in Virginia and pleaded guilty in Washington to two conspiracy counts, each punishable by up to five years in prison.
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10:30 a.m.
A prosecutor with special counsel Robert Mueller’s office says former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort “engaged in crime again and again” over more than a decade and undermined American ideals.
Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann did not recommend a particular punishment for Manafort at his sentencing hearing on Wednesday.
But he delivered a scathing assessment of Manafort’s crimes, saying he concealed his foreign lobbying work, laundered millions of dollars and even coached other witnesses to lie.
Weissmann says Manafort’s crimes undermined the rule of law and committed crimes that “go to heart of the American criminal justice system.”
He says Manafort’s upbringing and education could have led him to an exemplary life, but that at each turn, “Mr. Manafort chose to take a different path.”
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10:05 a.m.
A judge says she’ll give former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort credit for accepting responsibility when she determines his sentence.
Defendants in federal court normally can get a shorter sentence by pleading guilty and taking blame for their conduct.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson says she’ll give Manafort some credit for having pleaded guilty in September to two counts of conspiracy in his Washington case.
A prosecutor with special counsel Robert Mueller’s office says Manafort doesn’t deserve any credit because he repeatedly lied to investigators and to the grand jury after his guilty plea.
But defense lawyer Thomas Zehnle says Manafort has “come forward” to take responsibility, and that the topics he’s accused of lying about are about different ones from the crimes he admitted to.
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9:40 a.m.
The sentencing hearing for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is underway in Washington.
Manafort is seated in a wheelchair at the defense table next to his lawyers.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson says she’s received many letters in support of Manafort.
Manafort faces a maximum of 10 years in prison at his sentencing as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Manafort has pleaded guilty in Washington to two conspiracy counts. He was sentenced in a separate case in Virginia last week to 47 months in prison.
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12:10 a.m.
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is due back in court for his second sentencing hearing in as many weeks.
Manafort faces up to 10 additional years in prison when he’s sentenced in Washington on Wednesday in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
The hearing comes a week after a judge in Virginia sentenced Manafort to 47 months in prison, far below what government guidelines recommended.
The Mueller team has prosecuted Manafort in both jurisdictions for charges related to his foreign consulting work. He was convicted at trial in the Virginia case and pleaded guilty in Washington to two conspiracy counts, each punishable by up to five years in prison.
A judge will decide Wednesday whether the sentences in the two cases should run consecutively or at the same time.
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