M-S-S-W media.

This week, the sentencing of former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort generated controversy.

One federal judge T.S. Ellis sentenced Manafort to a mere 47 months in prison, a small fraction of the sentence recommended by the federal

sentencing guidelines.

Manifort's sentence has reignited a broader debate about sentencing law.

Was Manifort's race or class a factor in the lenient sentence you received?

Was the sentence imposed by Judge Ellis caused by partisan bias?

And what does the sentence highlight about the need to reform criminal sentencing?

Let's get on topic. On Topic. Welcome to On Topic, a weekly in-depth look at a topic that helps us understand the week's news.

My name is Renata Mariati. I'm a former federal prosecutor, a practicing lawyer, and a

CNN legal analyst. And I'm joined by my friend Patty Vasquez, a WGM radio host who will join us regularly on this

podcast. So Patty I have to say there has been a lot of controversy

generated by the Man of Ford sentence much more than I expected.

Well a lot of people are sharing like you know this woman tried voting

even though she didn't know she was ineligible and she's serving jail time and here's somebody you know here

are all these people who committed lesser crimes and they're serving more time and

I think that people have the sense of justice.

They, especially, I get, you know, when it comes to the scale,

the breadth and scope of what he did,

people are shocked that it was only 47 months.

And the recommendations.

What were the recommendations again?

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