Hell have to serve. Thats after judge t. S. Eliot gave manafort 47 months for financial crimes last week in virginia. Now, manaforts attorney spoke just after todays sentencing as critics nearly drowned him out. Watch. Very sad thats not what she said liar sentence that is totally unnecessary. Manaforts attorney there calling it a very sad day. Cnns Kara Scannell and pamela brown are both outside the federal courthouse in washington where manafort just learned of his new punishment. Pamela, lets start with the sentencing, today, then well move on to the new charges hes facing. How did judge jackson arrive at this sentence . Do we know . Well, it was really a dressing down of manafort and his legal team by judge jackson. She did, at times, try to be balanced. She said at one point, look, manafort is not public enemy number one, hes also not the victim here. But she clearly stated time and time again that she did not buy in to Paul Manaforts arguments, that he, you know, accepted responsibility. She said saying im sorry because i got caught is not an inspiring plea for leniency. Basically saying this was too little, too late. Basically, for the first time today in court he said he was sorry for what he did and his conduct. And she basically just said that she could see through his games, see through his spin. She said, were you spinning the lies then to get a better deal or spinning the facts now to get a better deal . And she also went after his attorneys for the fact that they brought up russia collusion in the filing, saying that there wasnt any collusion. She said that that was a non sequitur and questioned why the attorneys would even raise that. And clearly, his behavior following his guilty plea factored into this decision today, the lies and the witness tampering, where she handed down six years, 2 1 2 which he will serve concurrently with this sentence in virginia, and an extra 3 1 2 years after that. Not the maximum sentence that she could have handed down, but clearly, she tried to take a balanced approach to fit the crimes that he pleaded guilty to the conspiracy against the u. S. , the conspiracy to witness tamper, and his behavior after the fact. Behavior he said he knew he was doing, he was fully aware that he was committing crimes and he did so anyway. That all factored into todays sentencing, it appears. Right. Referencing the witness tampering that came when he was still out of prison before he got slammed behind bars, before the ongoing trial, obviously, elsewhere, and then this one. What does this sentencing now mean, bigger picture, for the mueller investigation, pam . Well, this is the last big puzzle piece in the Mueller Probe. This is the most highprofile investigation. Youll recall, a year and a half ago, cnn was first to report the first charges in the Mueller Probe against manafort. And here we are today in this final sentencing, the stakes were high. Because in some ways, the prosecutors wanted to use today to sort of justify their work over the last nearly two years in this highprofile case. Manafort has been a central figure in all of this. And so, certainly, it is a big deal, as we near the end of the Mueller Probe, by all accounts, our reporting is that it is nearing the end. That it wont be long before the attorney general announces he has received muellers confidential report. And so the stakes were very high today. Its certainly a momentous day in the mueller investigation. Kara, fill us in now on the details of these new charges from the new York District attorney. What are the new accusations against manafort . Well, ana, today the Manhattan District Attorneys Office unsealed the 16count indictment against Paul Manafort with charges ranging from Residential Mortgage fraud to false Business Records and conspiracy in a scheme to defraud. It adds a new level of legal issues for manafort and while we talk a lot about the manafort case, its always kind of looming in there as part of the defense has been that hes looking for a president ial pardon. The key thing here with these state charges is that the president ial pardon doesnt apply. Theyre essentially pardon proof. Now, the District Attorneys Office would have to approve these cases, these charges in trial or manafort will have to face them, and that will take some time, since he is currently in a jail here in alexandria, virginia. But it adds a whole new level of scrutiny to manafort. It means its not the end for him. He could potentially face, if hes convicted, even more time. But this time in the state prison system. So this is just another level for manafort. And as you said, ana, another example of the fall from grace from the man who was once, you know, one of the kings of k street here as a big lobbyist. So its one element of manaforts legal exposure is resolved today, but then theres a new journey that hes going to begin now in new york state. Kara scannel, pamela brown, thank you both for that reporting. Now lets bring in our legal experts on what today means. Po jennifer rogers. What message do you think the judge was trying to send today in manaforts sentencing . I think she was sending the message that its a very serious thing, very serious crimes here. But i think she was very reasonable in the way that she sentenced manafort today. Because she gave him the maximum on the obstruction of justice, which really was egregious on manaforts part. But she didnt give him the maximum on the other charge that he was facing in front of her, and its because there were some factual overlap with the virginia case. So she said, i give you the max on the obstruction, im not going to give you the max on the other and im only running it partially concurrent and partially consecutive to take into account that some of these facts were already taken into account in the virginia case. So i thought her sentencing was very balanced, very reasonable. Hes facing seven and a half years, which for a man of his age, is a significant sentence. And hell start serving that time and well see what happens with the new york case and a possible pardon, but hell be in prison for a while. So lets talk about the new york case. Because within an hour of this sentencing, caroline, federal the federal charges, they were gone, they were done with them, bam now come these new york state charges against manafort. Whats your reaction . Yeah, my initial reaction, i have to say, ana, is that this was in really poor taste on the part of cy vance. This looks politically motivated. Within hours of the sentence coming down, he makes this move of unsealing his indictment, which just as you said, is pardon proof, as it were. And so, you know, the underlying theory of prosecutors is you should prosecute without fear or favor, right . You should prosecute whether or not somebody is in the public eye or not. And this makes it look like this is a politically motivated prosecution. And its not going to sit well with many americans. Do you see it the same way, jennifer . I have a slightly different take which is, you know, he made no bones about the fact, cy advan vance, that they were proceeding with the case, pursuing the case and planning to charge it, and part of that is looking political because theyre doing it to backstop the possibility of a pardon, but you have to wait until the federal case is resolved before you can put your charges in, because theyre going to need to physically move him up to new york to face these charges. So there would have been no point in unsealing before these charges. So, within the hour could have taken a little more time. But generally speaking, its not a surprise they waited until the federal court was resolved. Again, a president cant pardon on state charges. But when you look at some of these charges, they sound awfully familiar to the charges he was facing in federal cases. What about this idea of or the questions of double jeopardy. Could that apply to this, caroline . Absolutely. But under the doctrine, if at last dual sovereignty doctrine, which states basically that a state can, its its prerogative, prosecute for the same underlying conduct if theres a different state crime, but in new york, it has heightened double jeopardy laws which give you more protection than the constitution does. And there was some rumblings, i dont know if you remember a while back, congress was trying to amend those laws for this very instance so they could continue to prosecute under that lower standard. It never went through, but it looks like this conduct is wholly separate and apart from a lot of the conduct that was charged in the previous case. It so looks like theyre very much well aware of the double jeopardy issue. Ladies, stick around. Theres more to discuss today. It is a big news day with a lot of legal discussion. Breaking moments ago, cnn obtaining new emails revealing a back channel between trumps lawyer and Michael Cohen. 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This could be your chance to leave your psoriasis symptoms behind. Ask your doctor for ilumya today, for a clearer tomorrow. Snch snch snchts. More breaking news on this wednesday. Cnn has exclusively obtained emails sent by a lawyer with longtime ties to Rudy Giuliani to Michael Cohen. These emails appear to show a back channel being established between Donald Trumps legal team and his former lawyer and fixer. Cnns Gloria Borger has the exclusive reporting here. Also back with us are Caroline Polisi and jennifer rogers. Gloria, tell us more about these emails. We have obtained two emails that have been given to congressional committees and they contain communications that were done in april of 2018. And remember, that is after Michael Cohens office was raided by the feds. And theyre between Michael Cohen and an attorney named bob costello, who has a longstanding close relationship with Rudy Giuliani. They focus mainly on cohens relationship with the white house at that particular time, which costello described in these emails, in glowing terms. He said, it was very, very positive. You are loved. And it ends, this email ends, sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places. So, the interpretation, however, of whats being said in this email and the other email depends on who you ask. And how is costello explaining . What is he saying these were all about . Well, well, costello says that what this was is an effort to kind of keep the relationship between Michael Cohen and donald trump on track. He claims that Michael Cohen may have been worried about whether the president liked him or not and vice versa. And cohen sympathizers say that is not true, that what this is evidence of is dangling a pardon. And that thats what this was about and then when i spoke with costello, costello said, you know, that is utter nonsense. I was not dangling a pardon. I was just trying to help this relationship. And so, there isnt this other email, and you have it up on the screen, which says, i just spoke to Rudy Giuliani and told him i was on your team. He asked me to tell you that he knows how tough this is on you and your family and he will make sure to tell the president. He said, thank you for opening this back channel of communication and asked me to keep in touch. So the question thats still out there, and we do have these dueling narratives is, was this about a pardon without the word pardon mentioned . And remember, this time, at this time Michael Cohen had not been charged with anything. He may have been, you know, worried about the potential Campaign Finance violation or he may have been worried about what the feds got in his office. And donald trump may have been worried about, you know, about that, too. But we so we have these dueling narratives, you know. Was it just about fixing or helping a relationship or a pardon . And thats the big question. Let me ask our legal analysts how they interpret it. Jennifer, friends in high places . Does this sound like a pardon dangle to you or just somebody trying to keep the relationship strong or even repairing a relationship that may not be as strong . Well, you know, its hard to tell, obviously, its very vague. But here is a time when the feds have gone in and seized, pursuant to court order, a bunch of materials. A lot of that communications between trump and cohen and cohens work for trump. So theyre kind of all in this universe of whats out there, what do they have . What are we facing now . Lets kind of stick together. You know, remember, there was a joint Defense Agreement around this time period when the federal officials were going through all of the seized materials and trying to determine what was privileged, what could they look at, what could they use in a potential prosecution . So the notion of communication between the two of them, and listen, you know, were in this together, lets stick together, is not so inherently problematic to me at this time. You know, on the other hand, the notion that anyone would even be thinking about interfering in a case, right . You have the president , how can he possibly help Michael Cohen if Michael Cohen is in the sights of federal prosecutors . Theres no legitimate appropriate way for him to help Michael Cohen. What he needs to do in that circumstance is just to say, you deal with your case, good luck to you and your family. And thats it. Unless they are involved together in some nefarious activity. How do you interpret these emails . What stands out, caroline . Right, well, i agree with jenna for that look, a unique feature of all of these prosecutions in the backdrop here is the possibility of a president ial pardon and you know, certainly in my experience, ive never encountered that representing a client in that capacity, to have that sort of on the back burner. So i think in a lot of ways, some of the attorneys dont necessarily know how to approach it, because theyve likely never had that as a scenario before. So i agree, i dont think its completely inappropriate to be talking about the issue. Its no secret, again, President Trump, remember, he gave that weird posthumous pardon to jack johnson and then pardoned scooter libby. He definitely made public overtures that seemed to send the signal that, hey, he liked giving pardons and he was amenable to granting pardons, even not in the ordinary course. So i dont think its that odd. Gloria, when cohen was reassured by his attorney that everything was, quote, very, very positive, you are loved, saying, sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places, what do you make of the fact that cohen ultimately decided to cooperate with prosecutors anyway . Well, the joint Defense Agreement was dissolved in june of 2018 and i recall very distinctly that by july 2nd, Michael Cohen had declared his independence and he told abc news, if youll recall, that hes not going to be villain