Rachel Maddow tracked down veteran newsman Dan Rather to talk about the lenient sentence handed down to former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, sentenced to just 47 months in prison for bank and tax fraud.
Said Rather: “Well, I think it was historic. As you pointed out, the campaign manager for what is now a sitting president going to jail — there’s no precedent for that.”
Asked by Maddow if he sees the Manafort sentencing as “the end” or “the worst it’s going to get” or “does this feel like the start,” Rather replied.
“No I’m afraid for those who think we’re going through a long national nightmare that there’s no end in sight that I can see…this decision by the judge today is a stunner and law students are going to be studying the case for years to come, say nothing of historians.”
Asked by Maddow what the “story of the day” will be when historians look back, Rather replied: “I think it will be about the lightness of the sentence.”
“This sentence is a straight-up rebuke to Robert Mueller and his team,” Rather added. “It’s an in-your-face shame on you statement from the judge to Mueller. And the sentence is just a slap on the wrist to a big time criminal of a minor sentence for another elite, well-connected Washington big shot.”
Rather closed by adding, “I will say, a lot of black kids in the projects routinely get worse sentences than Manafort has gotten and a lot of white kids on drug (unintelligible) do the same.”
Watch Maddow’s full coverage on the Manafort sentencing here:
