"Today has been a rough one for those close to the president," Stephen Colbert said on Thursday's Late Show, and he was mostly talking about Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chair. "Earlier today, a federal judge sentenced Manafort to 47 months in prison," he said. "Not quite four years, but with good behavior, he is incapable of good behavior. The 47 months Manafort got is a shockingly lenient sentence, considering the sentencing guidelines call for a prison term of 19 1/2 to 24 years."
Manafort's lawyers "claimed the sentencing guidelines were unfair since he was a first-time offender," Colbert said. "But prosecutors pointed out that for over a decade, Manafort repeatedly and brazenly violated the law. He wasn't so much a first-time 'offender' as a first-time 'getting-caught-er.'" Manafort may get out early if he's "a smooth-talker" with the parole board, he noted, playing a clip of Manafort and quickly ruling that out.
In any case, Manafort isn't in the clear — next week, a second federal judge will sentence him for witness tampering and money laundering, Colbert said. "You know you're in trouble when the only time you get out of jail is to go get sentenced to more jail."
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Colbert turned to the question of whether Michael Cohen lied about asking Trump for a pardon, and if so, which Michael Cohen asked for the pardon. Trump insisted on Twitter that despite Cohen's guilty plea, he himself did not violate campaign finance laws, because he said so. One Republican senator tried the slightly more effective Trump-loves-his-family defense, Colbert said. "Yes, while Trump was being spanked with a copy of Forbes magazine by a porn star, he was thinking of his family. And I believe that because they are on the cover of that magazine." Watch below. Peter Weber
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