if the parties were flipped (i.e. Democratic admin and Manafort being related to a case involving said admin), I bet Ellis would be all over it and give the max. I don't believe Ellis is that dumb or oblivious to really think Manafort was blameless for most of his life and make him out as some kind of not-so-bad person. There's definitely a motive to this BS.
I doubt judge Jackson will be so lenient. She revoked Manafort's bail over witness tampering & has agreed with prosecutors that he violated the plea deal by lying to prosecutors. Manafort was a good boy in Ellis' courtroom, not so much in Jackson's.