Democratic presidential contender
Amy Klobuchar
said that it was
appalling
Paul Manafort was granted a lighter-than-expected sentence.
President Trump’s former campaign chairman was sentenced to 47 months in prison this week, much less than special counsel Robert Mueller recommended.
“That was appalling to me,”
the Minnesota senator
said during a discussion at the South By Southwest
conference Saturday. “When I saw that Manafort sentence that day … I just thought, ‘wow,’ because he deviated from those sentencing guidelines.”
Klobuchar said that during her time as a chief prosecutor, she realized that white
–
collar crimes were not
taken as seriously as other crimes.
“You can’t have two systems of justice
,
o
ne for the rich and powerful and one for everyone else,” Klobuchar said.
Mueller
and his team
team called for Manafort to serve
19-24 years in prison for concealing millions of dollars he earned
.
Muller, who was appointed to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, claimed Manafort breached his plea agreement in a separate case in D.C. regarding lobbying and obstruction of justice by lying to federal investigators.
Manafort, 69, is likely to be released in about three years
, as
the sentencing includes nine months of time served.
Last year, Manafort was found guilty on five tax fraud charges, two bank fraud charges, and one charge of hiding foreign bank accounts.
