If there was ever a convicted felon in deep shit and sinking fast, it’s Paul Manafort. Here’s one of his lawyers’ arguments from his sentencing memo:
“[Manafort has spent] a lifetime promoting American democratic values and assisting emerging democracies to adopt reforms necessary to become a part of Western society.”
Holy spit take provoking quote, Batman.
I’d never confused Manafort with Captain America before. I always thought he was a corrupt piece of shit instead of a democracy promoting hero. Who knew? Nobody.
I have some sympathy for his lawyers. They gotta argue something and their client has made it impossible for them to make any plausible arguments. Hence the “my guy wasn’t charged with collusion” defense.
What’s happened to Manafort should be a cautionary tale for his old pal Roger Stone. But he’s an attention junkie so he’s unlikely to learn anything. You need to listen to learn and Rog never shuts his big fat bazoo.
one commenter over at emptywheel speculated that, in the future, when a lowly associate is assigned to write a brief that has no hope of convincing anyone it will become known as, “Pulling a Manafort.”
That passage reads like something lifted from “The Manchurian Candidate” doesn’t it? “Raymond Shaw is the kindest, warmest, bravest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.”