Reuters
FILE PHOTO: Former Trump campaign manager Manafort arrives for arraignment at U.S. District Court in Washington
- Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, was sentenced to 47 months in prison on Thursday.
- The sentence handed down by US District Judge T.S. Ellis III in Alexandria, Virginia, is well below prosecutors' sentencing recommendation of 19 to 24 years in prison.
- Manafort was indicted on 18 counts by special counsel Robert Mueller's office, and was convicted of eight counts of tax and bank fraud by a jury last year; a mistrial was declared for 10 of the other counts due to a deadlocked jury.
- The just shy of four-year sentence left some political pundits, former prosecutors, legal experts, and public defenders flummoxed - and they aired both their shock and their theories behind the sentencing on Twitter.
Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, was sentenced to 47 months in prison on Thursday.
The sentence handed down by US District Judge T.S. Ellis III in Alexandria, Virginia is well below the sentencing recommendation of 19 to 24 years in prison.
Manafort was indicted on 18 counts by special counsel Robert Mueller's office, and was convicted of eight counts of tax and bank fraud by a jury last year; a mistrial was declared for 10 of the other counts due to a deadlocked jury.
The nearly four-year sentence left some political pundits, former prosecutors, legal experts, and public defenders flummoxed - and they aired both their shock and their theories behind the sentencing on Twitter.
This is just the first of two sentences Manafort will face, he struck a plea deal with Mueller's office and pleaded guilty to two counts obstruction and conspiracy. US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson is overseeing that case in Washington, DC, and she has yet to hand down her sentence.
Here's what experts are saying about the prison sentence Manafort was given on Thursday: