President Trump said Friday he felt “very badly” for Paul Manafort, but “very honored” by the federal judge who sentenced his former campaign manager to a shorter-than-expected prison sentence.
Trump told reporters at the White House that U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis’s sentencing of Manafort to 47 months in prison — far below federal sentencing guidelines — clears him of collusion allegations between his 2016 presidential campaign and Russian elements.
“I feel very badly for Paul Manafort. I think it has been a very, very tough time for him. But if you notice, both his lawyer, a highly respected man, and a very highly respected judge, the judge said there was no collusion with Russia,” Trump said.
“This had nothing to do with collusion. There was no collusion. It’s a collusion hoax, it’s a collusion witch hoax. I don’t collude with Russia,” Trump said. “[Manafort’s] lawyer went out of his way to make a statement last night, no collusion with Russia. There was absolutely none. The judge, I mean for whatever reason, I was very honored by it, also made the statement that this had nothing to do with collusion with Russia. So you know, keep it going. Keep the hoax going. It’s just a hoax.”
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Judge Ellis didn’t actually say there was no Trump campaign collusion with Russia, noting he was sentencing Manafort over conviction on different charges. “He is not before the court for anything having to do with colluding with the Russian government to influence the election,” Ellis said.
Outside of court Thursday night, Manafort lawyer Kevin Downing said “there was absolutely no evidence that Mr. Manafort was involved in any collusion with the government of Russia.”
Manafort was sentenced for tax and bank fraud. But he could get another ten years in prison when he’s sentenced next week in federal court in Washington, D.C., over a separate case for conspiracy and witness tampering.
Manafort was convicted last year of laundering millions of dollars to avoid taxes after reaping a windfall working for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine. That lobbying work occurred before he joined the Trump campaign in 2016, but was uncovered by special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible collusion.
Trump declined to say Thursday whether he would pardon Manafort.
“The only one discussing it is you. I haven’t discussed it,” he said.
