Manafort attorney shouted down by hecklers outside courthouse

Paul Manafort’s attorney was shouted down by hecklers Wednesday outside a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., after the former Trump campaign chairman was sentenced to an additional 43 months in prison.

Defense attorney Kevin Downing, who spoke in front of a swarm of reporters and TV cameras, struggled at times to be heard amid a chorus of protesters.

{mosads}“It’s callous, it was hostile and totally unnecessary,” Downing said about his client’s punishment before being drowned out by hecklers calling Manafort a “traitor.”

When Downing said district court Judge Amy Berman Jackson had “conceded there was absolutely no evidence of any Russian collusion in this case,” some protesters accused him of lying.

“Liar!” one man shouted. “That’s not what she said!”

Wow — Manafort’s attorney, Kevin Downing, is shouted down outside the courthouse after he falsely claims “2 courts have ruled no evidence of any collusion with any Russians.”

“Liar! That’s not what she said!” someone yells. pic.twitter.com/gGqdrP2ihJ

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 13, 2019

Manafort’s hearing Wednesday came just days after a federal judge in Virginia sentenced him to 47 months in prison for his conviction on eight criminal charges related to his foreign lobbying efforts that were uncovered in special counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation of Russia’s election interference and potential collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Moscow.

Manafort will be given credit for the nine months he has already spent in jail, which means he will spend less than seven years in prison.