President Donald Trump on Wednesday falsely asserted that the judge in Paul Manafort's Virginia sentencing hearing vindicated his assertions that there was "no collusion" between his presidential campaign and Russia.
Manafort was sentenced to 43 months in prison for fraud unrelated to Russian collusion.
Ranting to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump dredged up his usual trope about how there was no collusion and that it was the Democrats who... well, you know.
“I can only tell you one thing, again, that was proven today. No collusion. There’s no collusion," Trump said. “There’s no collusion and there hasn’t been collusion and it was all a big hoax."
Watch below:
Trump was parroting Manafort's lawyer, Kevin Downing, who immediately after the hearing told reporters:
“For anyone who was in the courtroom today, what I’m about to say will not be a surprise: Judge Jackson conceded that there was absolutely no evidence of any Russian collusion in this case. So that makes two courts — two courts have ruled no evidence of any collusion with any Russians.”
Downing was shouted down by protesters screaming, "LIAR! THAT'S NOT WHAT SHE SAID!"
The protesters were correct. Trump and Downing are flat out lying. Full stop.
Here is what US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in DC said at Manafort's sentencing hearing:
“The ‘no collusion’ refrain that runs through the entire defense memorandum is unrelated to matters at hand. The ‘no collusion’ mantra is simply a non sequitur.”
In fact, Jackson's remarks were the polar opposite of what Trump is claiming:
“The ‘no collusion’ mantra is also not accurate, because the investigation is still ongoing.”
Some believe Manafort is hoping for a presidential pardon.
Trump said he has "not given it a thought."
A few minutes after Jackson handed down her sentence, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance indicted Manafort on 16 state charges relating to fraud and conspiracy. Presidential pardons cannot be applied to state crimes.
As the White House gaggle continued, Trump reverted to stale humblebrags about his Electoral College victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Note that Manafort was chair of the Trump campaign from May 19 to August 19, 2016.
"And you know it," Trump rambled on. "It was done and stated by the Democrats because they lost an election that they should have won, because the Electoral College it’s a big advantage for Democrats, not for Republicans. And they should have, and I ran the clock out."
Really? Does it?
“We ran the whole thing, ran up the east coast from North Carolina to Pennsylvania," Trump boasted, almost as if he was giving a hat tip to Manafort. "Then we go up to Wisconsin and Michigan, states that hadn’t been won for many, many years. We won those states."
Trump then blasted the Russia investigation, headed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as a "hoax."
“And they said, how do we solve this horrible problem," Trump retorted. "We lost an election that in theory some people — I didn’t, but some people thought they were going to win, right? And they said, I have an idea. Let’s blame Russia. It was a hoax. It was all a big hoax. Today again, no collusion. The other day, no collusion. There was no collusion."
This is quite the hill, Donald.
Trump made a similar demonstrably false claim on Thursday after Judge TS Ellis of the Eastern District of Virginia sentenced Manafort to 47 months in prison.
“Both [Manafort’s] lawyer, a very respected man, and a highly respected judge, the judge said there was no collusion with Russia,” Trump said to reporters before departing to tour tornado damage in Alabama. “It’s a collusion hoax. It’s a collusion witch hoax. I don’t collude with Russia.”
Trump is living in opposite land. What Ellis actually said was that Manafort was “not before this court for anything having to do with collusion with the Russian government to influence this election.”
Nevertheless, Trump doubled-down on his false narrative Friday morning.
"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," Trump tweeted. "But the Witch Hunt Hoax continues as you now add these statements to House & Senate Intelligence & Senator Burr. So bad for our Country!"
And, just like today, Downing's post-hearing remarks last Thursday were like hamberder meat for Trump.
“There is absolutely no evidence Paul Manafort worked in collusion with any government official from Russia," Downing proclaimed.
Trump also expressed sympathy for his former campaign chair.
“I feel very badly for Paul Manafort,” Trump said. “I think it’s been a very, very tough time for him.”
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