(ALEXANDRIA, Va.) — President Donald Trump says he feels “very badly” for Paul Manafort.
Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, was sentenced Thursday by a federal judge to nearly four years in prison for tax and bank fraud related to his work advising Ukrainian politicians. The charges were unrelated to his work on Trump’s campaign or the focus of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump repeated Friday as he departed the White House to survey tornado damage in Alabama that Manafort’s case “had nothing to do with Russia.”
Trump says it’s been a “very, very tough time” for Manafort.
The 69-year-old Manafort faces additional sentencing next week in a separate case in which he has pleaded guilty to charges related to illegal lobbying.
