Paul Manafort, who once served as President Trump’s campaign chairman, was sentenced to nearly four years in prison Thursday for cheating on his taxes and bank fraud — a far lesser sentence than the roughly 20 years he had faced under federal sentencing guidelines.

U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III called that guidelines calculation “excessive” and sentenced the longtime lobbyist instead to 47 months in prison.

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump has rarely caught a break since special counsel Robert Mueller clamped a vise around his White House two years ago.

Yet the shorter than expected sentence handed to his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort is giving the President a few, rare crumbs of comfort as he faces down an expansive set of criminal, civil and congressional investigations into his presidency, campaign, business empire and personal life.

President Donald Trump's ex-campaign manager Paul Manafort has been given a 47-month prison sentence for fraud.

He was convicted last year of hiding millions of dollars of income earned by his political consulting in Ukraine.

The charges stem from an inquiry into alleged Russian election meddling in the 2016 US elections.

None of Manafort's charges relate to allegations of collusion with Russia. Mr Trump has always denied the charge, describing the inquiry as a witch hunt.

President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort will be sentenced by a U.S. judge in Virginia on Thursday for bank and tax fraud uncovered during Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis could deliver effectively a life sentence to Manafort, 69, if he follows federal sentencing guidelines cited by prosecutors that call for 19-1/2 to 24 years in prison for the eight charges the veteran Republican political consultant was convicted of by a jury in Alexandria last August.

)A federal judge will sentence Paul Manafort on Thursday for defrauding banks and the government and failing to pay taxes on millions of dollars in income he earned from Ukrainian political consulting -- charges that stemmed from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The penalty may be steep enough to keep the longtime lobbyist and former Trump campaign chairman in prison for the rest of his life.

Lawyers for Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, asked a federal judge in Northern Virginia on Friday to show leniency when he sentences Mr. Manafort next week, casting him as a loyal, compassionate, idealistic man who has learned a “harsh lesson.”
They said Mr. Manafort, who has been jailed since June, had already suffered greatly for his crimes. At age 69, plagued by health problems, he poses no risk of recidivism, they said.

House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff said Sunday that he was “absolutely” prepared to sue the Trump administration — and to subpoena special counsel Robert Mueller — if the Mueller report is not made public.

FBI special counsel Robert Mueller’s office accused former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort of “repeatedly and brazenly” violating the law, according to a redacted sentencing memo filed on Friday in a Washington court.

Prosecutors for special counsel Robert Mueller say they take no position on what Paul Manafort's prison sentence should be, but say President Trump's former campaign chairman acted in "bold" fashion to commit a multitude of crimes.

In the nearly two years that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has been investigating whether there was collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, few figures seem to have offered more tantalizing leads than Konstantin V. Kilimnik.