At alone in virginia. He faces ten more years for his case in d. C. Time he might not have faced has he not broken his plea agreement. That sentencing is next week. Now, Paul Manafort arrived in the courthouse this afternoon in a wheelchair. We could see from the sketches in our Court Reporters. In the green jumpsuit. The same as his last trip to court in october. This judge, t. S. Ellis, who at times has been critical of prosecutorial overreach did not give manafort any credit for accepting responsibility. His ruling on the sentence, as i mentioned, could come at any moment. I want to go right to the courthouse. Nbcs ken dilanian is there. Ken, the latest news we have that i want to talk to you about that is pretty interesting is muellers prosecutors going into on Paul Manafort here. This is the last time they get to do that before the judge decides, as you know and for your analysis. We hear muellers prosecutors saying they spent, quote, hours of him with him, but that was not reflective of any value. Meaning dont credit him for the time they spent. Indeed, they say he wasted the precious time of muellers team. Quote, 50 hours with us because he lied, he lied, so it took longer to provide the truth to him. What are you seeing, ken . Reporter its fascinating, ari. Another quote from prosecutor, hours of time spent with the special counsel are not reflective of the value of information we received. That solves a little bit of a mystery for us, ari, because we thought even though manafort ultimately was found to have lied, he spent so many sessions with the special counsel, it stood to reason he provided them at least some useful information. Right. Reporter theyre coming to the court today and saying, in, in fact, no. He told us nothing we didnt already know. He was completely useless as a cooperating witness. That is bad for Paul Manafort, but it also seems its bad for the Mueller Investigation. They cut a deal with him for a reason. They thought he could provide them useful information pertinent to the case about whether there was a russian conspi conspiracy. Apparently he didnt. As you know, ari, none of the major questions we have about Paul Manafort, whether he colluded and provided polling information that found its way to the russians, none of that is going to be answered in this hearing, but what is going to be answered is how long Paul Manafort is going to spend in prison, at least in this virginia case. As you said, the guidelines call for up to 24 years. Nobody thinks ellis will go that high. Its not looking good for manafort. He seems to be losing on every key point that could argue for a lower sentence. What does it tell you in a sense the mueller folks are really throwing the book at him. There is a legal distinction, they didnt say, judge, this is exact the years that we want. That can happen in other cases. But they are clearly in emphasis right now at this late hour in that courtroom going back over what they say Paul Manafort did that made him worse than a traditional convict. That is to say busted, convicted, then lying to prosecutors postconviction. Theyre trying to show, i think theyre looking at this more harshly than a traditional convict. Reporter i agree with you. And, you know, im not sure that we should read anything into the fact that they didnt recommend a sentence, because they have not done that in any of the cases. It seems to be their modus operandi, these are what the guidelines call for. We dont object to that. The guidelines are so harsh in this case. Lets not forget, this is not a violent crime. Paul manafort doesnt have a history of criminal offenses, and yet hes facing more than some people get for murder, 24 years, on top of a sentence he will get of perhaps ten years washington, d. C. Ken, im going to cut in to say were hearing from our Court Reporters here and through our control room that theyve Just AnnouncedPaul Manafort will speak, not something he chose to do during the trial. He never took the stand. Hes known to be a skilled communicator up to a point. He has a law degree. What do you think of this news breaking literally this moment that Paul Manafort will speak to the court before he gets this sentence . Reporter well, it would be the first time that he would speak publicly since went when a gag order was imposed on him in this case, and here is his chance to essentially express remorse, to put into context, you know, the crimes that hes been convicted of and plus the admissions he made in washington, d. C. For this judge. T. S. Ellis, as you said, has expressed some skepticism about the entire special prosecutor case and the only reason manafort is in court is because he went to work for donald trump. This is essentially manaforts chance if he has any possibility of avoiding a massive prison sentence, it may be in what he says to this judge tonight. Ken, we cant predict the what of how many years hell get. We cant predict the when. Were told it could be any moment based on whats coming out of a proceeding that has already ran long. We can predict on the beat, the who. Thank you for your court reporting. Reporter ill be here for you. As part of our special coverage on what is one of the biggest nights in the Mueller Probe so far. Im joined by matt miller, david corn, jason johnson, nyesha moody mills. Matt, how does this usually work and how is it working tonight . Well, one, its going long because i think were all being reminded from the trial that this judge, judge ellis, likes an audience. He has an audience right now. A lot of people gathered. Hes going to take his time and say everything he wants. I think its interesting that manafort is going to speak to the judge. Hes going to try to convince the judge that he does accept responsibility, something the special counsel in his sentencing memo said manafort has not done and argued that he tried to cooperate. And then basically beg the court for mercy. That would be, you know, the case he makes i think will be one that is diametrically opposed to the one the special counsel has been making both in their filings and in court today. Think the interesting thing about the tact they take every time theyve had a choice with manafort, whether to go easy or go heavy, or really each to go between going heavy and heavier, they have always chosen heavier. You see that again today with the arguments theyre making to the judge. David, its easy to forget just how historic a night this is with everything going on, but this was the number one person in charge of trumps campaign. And take a look at what muellers done so far and how that compares as we all are kind of reacquainted with the facts. Most of the people sentenced up to this point for whats called processed crimes were there under a year. Cohen was handed off from mueller and ultimately got three years in new york. Gates and flynn who flipped, gates flipping explicitly on manafort, we dont know yet their sentencing, but its very clear that anything north of three years, let alone 10 or 15 tonight would be by far the most serious sentence mueller has won. Lets have a pop quiz. Remember who John Mitchell was . The attorney general but also the Campaign Chairman for Richard Nixon reelection campaign. He went to jail for watergate. He was sentenced to one to four years, served 19 months and got out. David, im going to let you continue, but i didnt know you were going to quiz. Well quiz with you. We remember him. We also remember john dean, haldeman, ehrlichman, well put these up. Their original sentencing, to your point, were in the range of four to eight years. I mean, were looking now look at what manaforts looking at. Go ahead, david. I was going to say, Paul Manafort is on the verge of setting a very not wanted record. You know, the prosecutors asking for 19 years. Even if the judge gives him half of that and he still has to be sentenced for another set of crimes next week, he may way beat the record of any former Campaign Manager who goes to jail. I mean, this is really historic. I dont think, you know, we get lost in the daytoday, but Donald Trumps top campaign guy is going to jail for a very long period of time, and while these charges dont allude to collusion, the we can get to this perhaps later. The case as it was brought by mueller raised some very serious questions about Paul Manafort colluding with russia while he was Campaign Manager. Jason . So, theres a couple of things about this, ari. Purely political speaking, yes, it was damaging and trumps Campaign Manager. This also has consequences for 2020. Not from the standpoint of scandal. Who wants to work with this guy anymore . As donald trump plans to run for president in 2020, hes going to have a tremendous amount of difficulty putting together a staff when you see these kinds of legal consequences for being anywhere near his campaign. The other issue is this, and this trickles all the way down through washington, d. C. Paul manafort was kind of a god of war. He had his fingers in all sorts of dictators and problematic people in different parts of the country, different parts of the world and hes eventually being taken down for playing the same kind of funny money games that a lot of people here in washington, d. C. Do. This is not about russian collusion because, again, the mueller trial the Mueller Investigation said he didnt necessarily help that much with that, but this is a warning. You know, this is cleaning the swamp. This is a warning to everyone who does this kind of business in washington, d. C. That if you get too close to trump, if you get too close to the wrong kinds of people, you can actually suffer serious jail consequences. This guy is going down for a serious bid and its not going to be something he can laugh about or the other people on k street say that happened to him. It wont happen to be. Aiesha. Heres the thing. We still have a situation, though, where it seems like all the president s men or going down, but there is still quite not anything sticking to the president. Im asking you about Paul Manafort. Everyone loves to go chase donald trump. Were not doing that tonight. What im looking at here is the guy who ran the campaign could get, as david was discussing, a sentence on par with one of the greatest in the last 50 years. What is the significance, in your view, of that, even if Donald Trumps not accused of anything . Well, i agree with jason. I think its draining the swamp and i think he deserves to be held accountable for his crimes. I mean, heres the thing, yeah, hes the Campaign Manager and i think it matters that we set a precedent that these socalled white collar, quote, unquote, crimes are still high crimes. And so i think that this is a really great thing that hes been held accountable, but, ari, i dont think that we can kind of skirt around the fact that, you know, there is still the question of what does this mean in a grander scheme . And i think that, you know, its true that anybody else who comes in 2020 to work with this president is going to question, you know, how theyre working with this president , and then also there are a lot of questions that still remain to be answered. Right. That perhaps the way this sentencing is going down is a precursor to us getting to the bottom of something. And were getting word now Paul Manafort has begun to speak. This is literally one of the last legal things before he learns his fate, before he gets his sentence. Matt, that is something that he never did at trial. His lawyers obviously determined as the case with many defendants who are ultimately convicted that taking the stand to defend themselves would hurt themselves because it opens them up to so many things theyd have to talk about. What do you think of him now literally at this moment, at this hour tonight speaking . And second, one other clue from the court proceedings, because we are literally in breaking news, matt. One good sign potentially for manafort, at least in the amount of time, was judge ellis saying that some of the other cases that the mueller folks were pushing back on may actually help manafort, the idea being that his side was able to cite some cases where people would be getting the lower end sentence, not necessarily the max. Yeah, and i think the response to that from the mueller team, i would suspect, it would be taken from their filings. When they argue this kind of remarkable thing. The reason why manafort is likely to get such a stiff sentence, the reason why the guidelines are so long in his case. They looked at past people convicted and couldnt find anyone similarly situated anywhere in the country, any time in recent memory. Hes getting this stiff sentence because he is one of the most serious white collar criminals the Justice Department has prosecuted in recent years. His crimes range from tax evasion to Money Laundering to obstruction of justice. So when you commit all these crimes, youre going to get a very serious sentence, and i think the reason you see him speaking for himself now is because those facts against him are so bad, its his last chance. Im going to cut in for this. We have breaking news in the sentencing of Paul Manafort, him taking taking basically a chance to address the court one final time. Ken dilanian at the white house. Whats happening . Reporter ari, this has been relayed to me from inside the courthouse, that Paul Manafort gave a fairly short statement in which he did not apologize, did not seem to express remorse, did talk about the difficult period that he has been through with his family. He said the last two years have been the most difficult for my family and i. He said to say that i have been humiliated and ashamed would be a gross understatement. I have felt punishment. And lastly, he asked the judge for compassion. But, again, did not apologize. Did not say im sorry. Did not really speak to the details of his crimes or express any remorse for his actions, ari. And im looking at the notes as you are, because were just getting this right now. Ken, what do you think about manafort here saying that i have felt punishment during these proceedings, an apparent reference to solitary confinement, according to our colleague where he says, ive had much time to repent. I ask for your compassion. Right. Well, hes saying he had much time to repent, but hes not discussing any kind of repentance or remorse for his actions. I think a lot of people are going to read into this essentially that Paul Manafort feels sorry for himself and essentially telling the judge, look, ive had a really rough time in solitary confinement. Please go easy on me. Without actually speaking to the acts to which he has of which he has been convicted and to which he has pleaded guilty, ari. Well, its remarkable. Im told theyve just gone into recess. Were processing all of this, ken. When i look at the statement, i have felt punishment during these proceedings and i have had time to repent, the question is how that affects the judge. The big decision now is out of the hands of mueller. Its out of the hands of a lot of us analysts, reporters, its down to one person in our system, this judge, and whether he looks at these comments as something that, a, he wants to incorporate into his decision. If so, do they help or hurt . There will be peep wople who lot a statement saying i felt punished who think the only reason mr. Manafort was even in pretrial detention was because he committed new crimes after being convicted. That is an act that even many hardened criminals are rarely accused of. Reporter absolutely, ari. Even though judge ellis has expressed skepticism about the special counsel and where manafort figures in these proceedings, and even though hes reputed to be a light sentencer on white collar offenders, this kind of statement cannot set well with a judge. A defendant comes before the court, doesnt mention any of the offenses hes been convicted of. Doesnt apologize. Doesnt express remorse. Simply says ive had a rough time in solitary. I cant imagine that judge ellis is going to treat that kindly. He may take into into account the time that manafort has served, and he may have strong feelings about the fact that manafort wouldnt be here if he hadnt joined the Trump Campaign. Nonetheless, hes faced with overwhelming evidence and a conviction and guilty pleas in washington, d. C. Yeah. Reporter and a massive record here that argues for a long prison sentence. Ken, stay with me. Im adding back in our panel. You and i are following our colleagues notes. Were in the brief recess what is before Paul Manafort for what will be d day in the coming moment moments when the judge takes the bench. 6 16 p. M. On the east coast and issues his fate, his verdict. Jason, i want to be very clear about this humiliation. Right. Thats Paul Manaforts word. He says hes been humiliated. And i think in our system of crime and punishment the question is when, because clearly it wasnt there when he was first convicted. Right. And he continued to fight it and did not take responsibility. And it wasnt when he pled out because, again, since then he has been found to be responsible for having continued to lie to prosecutors in a felonious manner, blowing his own plea deal. If the judge looks at this, isnt it a reasonable question to ask, well, when exactly were you humiliated, given your felonious conduct went all the way through postconviction . Ari, your statement what you youve read is basically, i felt really bad i got caught. Thats it. Hes not apologizing for anything. And i think whether its roger stone or Michael Cohen, and certainly with manafort, hearing that kind of statement and hearing the kind of arguments his lawyers have made, it is a microcosm of the sort of injustices sometimes of our criminal justice system, and what people do think theyll be held accountable and what people