Dan Rather Rips Paul Manafort Sentence: Black Kids In Projects Routinely Get Worse

Veteran journalist Dan Rather has joined the growing chorus of criticism over the 47-month sentence that U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III handed to President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, on Thursday.

Rather railed against “the lightness of the sentence” on Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” calling it “a straight rebuke” to special counsel Robert Mueller.

“It’s an in-your-face, shame-on-you statement from the judge to Mueller,” Rather continued. He described it as “a slap on the wrist” to “a big-time criminal” and “a minor sentence for another elite, well-connected, Washington big-shot.”

“I will say that, you know, a lot of black kids in the projects routinely get worse sentences than Manafort has gotten, and a lot of white kids on drug charges do the same,” Rather added.

Sentencing guidelines had called for Manafort — who was found guilty on a slew of charges including bank fraud and filing false tax returns — to be jailed for between 19 and 24 years.

Check out the full clip above.