Don’s sympathy for ‘Goodfelon’
President Trump threw his support behind convicted felon Paul Manafort on Wednesday in a tweet that mocked the Department of Justice and spurned Michael Cohen.
“I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family,” the president tweeted about his former campaign chairman, who faces up to 80 years behind bars. “Justice took a 12 year old tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to ‘break’ - make up stories in order to get a ‘deal.’ Such respect for a brave man!”
A bit later, Trump slammed special counsel Robert Mueller because the jury failed to convict Manafort on all 18 counts.
“A large number of counts, ten, could not even be decided in the Paul Manafort case,” he tweeted.
But a conviction on all 18 counts instead of the eight of which Manafort was found guilty would have made little difference, according to New York criminal-defense lawyer Nicholas Gravante Jr. of the firm Boies Schiller Flexner.
“It’s not always the case that the number of counts is meaningful,” he said. “It’s more: What is the top count and what is the most serious count that you have been convicted of ?”
In addition, a juror told Fox News Wednesday night that there was just one holdout who prevented Manafort from being indicted on all 18 counts.
The case was the first prosecution by Mueller to go to trial as an offshoot of his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Wednesday, Trump’s press secretary distanced the White House from Manafort.
“The Manafort case doesn’t have anything to do with the president, doesn’t have anything to do with his campaign and doesn’t have anything to do with the White House,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
Prosecutors must decide by next Wednesday whether to retry Manafort on the 10 deadlocked counts.
He’s currently jailed without bail — and next month, he’ll go on trial in DC on charges of lying to the FBI, money-laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent.