Paul Manafort just got the worst news of his life

| 10:00 pm EST February 15, 2019
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

It was fairly clear that Paul Manafort’s life was effectively over when a federal judge ruled this week that he had indeed willfully violated his plea deal by lying about his meeting with a Russian spy during the 2016 election. But this evening Mueller truly drove the point home about how screwed Manafort is.

Robert Mueller has made a court filing recommending that Paul Manafort be sentenced to 19.5 to 24.5 years in prison. Based on the way these things tend to play out, that’s probably about what the judge will end up giving him. Considering that Manafort is about to turn seventy years old, this will be a de facto life sentence with no possibility of parole. It gets even worse for him.

All along, Donald Trump’s actions have given no indication that he has any intention of taking the risk of trying to pardon Paul Manafort, which could backfire and end up establishing a legal precedent that Trump can’t pardon himself or his kids. Even if Trump did try to pardon Manafort, parallel state level charges would be brought against Manafort, and those can’t be pardoned.

Legal observers thought that Paul Manafort could have gotten five years in prison or less if he had lived up to his plea deal, which could have given him a chance of getting out before he dies of old age. But now Manafort is simply done for. There’s no less blunt way to put it. The other people who have been covering for Donald Trump should take note of this accordingly: cut a plea deal or you could be the next Manafort.