Trump Seeks to Spin Manafort Sentence as Proof of ‘No Collusion’

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said a federal judge who sentenced his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort to less than four years in prison for bank and tax fraud charges found “no collusion” with Russia.

The problem is that Manafort, 69, was never accused of colluding with Russia.

He faced as long as 24 years in prison after jurors in Alexandria, Virginia, convicted him last year of hiding $55 million in offshore accounts, failing to pay $6 million in taxes, and defrauding banks. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III said Thursday that a quarter-century behind bars was too extreme, and sentenced Manafort to 47 months.

Trump in a tweet Friday spun the sentencing as a vindication of his one-time campaign chief against any charges of colluding with Russia for meddling in the 2016 presidential election, which is being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

“Both the Judge and the lawyer in the Paul Manafort case stated loudly and for the world to hear that there was NO COLLUSION with Russia. But the Witch Hunt Hoax continues as you now add these statements to House & Senate Intelligence & Senator Burr. So bad for our Country!” Trump said.

Next, Manafort will be sentenced on March 13 by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, where he pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges and pledged to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

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