Pro Republican judge sentences Paul John Manafort to three years eleven months
T. S. Ellis III was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on July 1, 1987, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia vacated by Judge Robert R. Merhige Jr. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 5, 1987, and received his commission on August 6, 1987. He took senior status on April 1, 2007.[3] He continues to hear cases in the Eastern District of Virginia, and also has been empowered to hear cases in the Western District of Virginia. Ellis has issued over 1,000 published decisions during his tenure. Ellis also occasionally sits by designation on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Source Wikipedia
U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis said Mueller’s team seemed to be pursuing the case — which involves bank and tax fraud — in order to “tighten the screws” on Manafort, in the hope that he will testify against others including President Donald Trump.
“I don’t see what relation this indictment has with what the special counsel is authorized to investigate,” Ellis said during an hourlong hearing in Alexandria, Virginia. “You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud. … What you really care about is what information Mr. Manafort could give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump or lead to his prosecution or impeachment.”
Some of the grilling Ellis gave Mueller’s team signaled that the judge has been following news coverage of the Trump-Russia probe. The judge questioned why Mueller’s office was directly pursuing the bank fraud charges against Manafort, but had handed off an investigation of Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen to prosecutors in Manhattan.
Michael Cohen got thee years for far less crimes the judge in the Manafort case had come down hard on the special counsel many times accusing them of wanting to go after trump. There are thousands serving five to ten years for non violent drug crimes. Manafort got a slap on the wrist for being a security threat to our nation and defrauding the USA.
This sentencing by this judge is going to leave a sour taste in Many Americans mouths they are going to feel like our justice system is not fair. It is clear that this sentence undermines the confidence of our justice system.
It is the firm opinion of this writer that the pro-republican judge in this case was influenced by his political ideology. The statements this judge has made to the prosecutors in this case is a sure sign he was a pro-Trump-republican judge. If Manafort was your average Joe he would have received no less than 10 to 12 years in prison.
