Brennan calls light Manafort sentence ‘extraordinarily lenient’ in light of crimes committed

Former CIA Director John Brennan criticized former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s 47-month sentence as “extraordinarily lenient” on MSNBC on Thursday. 

“It’s an extraordinarily lenient sentence in light of the extent and scope of Mr. Manafort’s criminality,” Brennan said. “I think this sentence says a lot more about Judge Ellis than it does about Paul Manafort.”

Judge T.S. Ellis III, a Reagan appointee, handed Manafort, 69, the almost four-year sentence, which was much lower than the 19 1/2 to 24 years suggested by federal guidelines on Thursday. {mosads}

“You’ve been convicted of serious crimes — very serious crimes — by a jury,” Ellis said to the court, following Manafort’s sentencing hearing, but added “I think that sentencing range is excessive. I don’t think that is warranted in this case.”

Brennan criticized Ellis’s characterization of Manafort as mostly otherwise blameless. 

“That is just mind-boggling,” Brennan said. “Paul Manafort has a demonstrated track record of criminal, unethical, unprincipled behavior.”

In August, Manafort was convicted of eight charges: five counts of filing false tax returns, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failing to report foreign bank accounts.

Manafort’s crimes were revealed as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into the 2016 presidential election. Mueller is investigating whether Russia interfered in the election, including whether the Kremlin colluded with the Trump campaign.