Giuliani hits NYT, says paper suggests judges are politically influenced in sentencing

President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on Friday hit The New York Times, saying its reporting on former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is suggesting that federal judges are politically motivated when they hand down prison sentences.

“You’d figure that if you got four here, then you’d get a concurrent [sentence],” Giuliani told co-host Buck Sexton on Hill.TV’s “Rising,” referring to Judge T.S. Ellis III sentencing Manafort to almost four years in prison on Thursday.

Manafort was convicted of eight felonies in a Virginia federal court last year. Federal sentencing guidelines advised for a prison sentence of between 19 1/2 and 24 years.

“However, as the Times points out — speaking of how unfair the Times is — the Times says, ‘Well, Judge Ellis was a Reagan appointee,’ suggesting that he would go easy on Manafort,” Giuliani said. “Then they say, ‘Well, the next judge might be much tougher.’ But they don’t tell you who appointed her. She’s an Obama appointee.”

Manafort is scheduled to be sentenced next week in a separate case that’s overseen by Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who was appointed to the bench by former President Obama.

“So if it’s good for the goose then it’s good for the gander, and it makes the point that some of these judges maybe are affected by things like that,” he said.

The Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

— Julia Manchester


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