This slap on his lily-white wrist suggests he cooperated far beyond what he may publicly admit; after all, there’s that pesky polonium thing Putin is so fond of sending as a “parting gift”.
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Is this something that state boards could or would determine?
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It will be up to the Dutch bar association to examine his case and toss his ass out of the profession.
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Absolutely. Nowhere near enough. A year would be better. This is a slap on the wrist.
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Being separated from a woman in the late stages of pregnancy is an ironic way to punish a person.
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The right wing headlines will write themselves: “Mueller’s fishing expedition lands a guppy: 30 days jail time”
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That is a great question and important context that is missing from this story. He plead to a felony which is important. As a convicted felon he will likely lose any law licenses he might still have. The max sentence is 5 years but 0- 6 months is the max under the guidelines for someone with no priors. I’d like to have seen him get the full 6 months, but I guess the pregnant wife had something to do with his sentence.
I’m not clear on the extent to van der Zwaan is cooperating, but given his father-in-law, I’m guessing not much cooperation. When he was confronted with the smoking gun emails, I’m sure he then came clean which would be some help.
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Yes, it’s light, so just march in and talk to Mueller, Donald. Hey, you could do 30 days, right?
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Based on the photo maybe he could have spent his time finding a new hair salon or at least stop using Eric Trump’s comb.
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I hear that Nothingburgers are on the prison dinner menu.
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Sorry, but our criminal justice system doesn’t even merit that description.
A poor black woman in Texas is sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for voting while on probation. A white lawyer from a billionaire family is fined and sentenced to 30 days for lying to federal agents questioning him in relation to the most serious matters imaginable: the integrity of our democracy and national security.
I guess one is a ‘good fit’ for prison and the other isn’t.
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Low end, but still a sentence of imprisonment, and even the Guidelines don’t require a sentence of imprisonment for Zone A range. Typically this range results in probation. I doubt he’ll be able to sleep soundly for the rest of his life, though, for the reasons ncsteve says. Anyone know where he is licensed?
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Hmmmm…ll the plot thickens… oligarch eh?
I will confess being white in America is the way to go if you have that option.
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Trumpian values.
Kidnap and deport innocent Hispanic children, but open the door wide for European criminals.
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Don’t put this guy in orange prison clothing. Just drop him in there dressed as he is in the photo: expensive suit, pocket square, i-Phone, Swiss watch. Then let’s see how he does.
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I get the sense that this van der Zwaan is either; 1) a bit player who did the report with Manafort in 2012, talked to him and Gates in 2016 about not much, and then lied about it all because … well, lying about conversations seems to be in vogue with these guys, or 2) is on the hook for bigger things and a bigger role than what we know, is taking his minor lumps for these lies, but will need to cooperate if he doesn’t want the big hammer coming down on him like it is on Manafort. Note that the Mueller team did not make a sentencing recommendation, which I think they would have done if they’d wanted to nail this guy on these charges alone. He’s just gotta decide in what scenario his and his young family’s lives are safest.
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When I see his picture, I think about blonde girls in Aruba, for some reason.
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So, will he get deported after serving his time… as a criminal alien? Obviously the Dutch are not sending their best people… to paraphrase orangetop donnie two scoops.
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Even shoplifters get more than that…
We live in a fundamentally corrupt nation.
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