Blumenthal: ‘Paul Manafort Caught a Break; Overall Sentence Is Exceedingly Lenient’

EXCERPT:

MITCHELL: “And in explanation, though, she said going into this today, some three hours ago, she said that she could not be today trying to revise what another judge had done. So the fault, if there is a fault with the overall sentence, really goes back to Judge Ellis in Virginia.”
BLUMENTHAL: “There’s a lot of truth to that, Andrea, the miscarriage of justice, as I’ve called it repeatedly, really occurred in the eastern district of Virginia, not today in her courtroom. She did her best to be fair and factual. And as she said, the defendant saying I’m sorry I got caught is not inspiring plea for leniency was only one example of how she took apart the disingenuous and deceptive attitude he took toward the entire system of justice, feeling that he was above the rule of law. But she could have been tougher. And she tried to be balanced and fair. And I think that overall the public will rightly feel that Paul Manafort thumbed his nose at justice in this country, and he caught a break.”