Judge Ellis seems to have his head screwed on very straight.
Actually, he’s been very erratic, during the different phases of the trial. After accusing the prosecution of using charges unrelated to collision as leverage, he demanded to see the unredacted information. Once he saw that, his 31 page ruling stated the prosecution had ‘followed the money’ to the Ukrainian-Russian ties, related to his illegal activity. Then, he berated the prosecution, during the trial, and later apologized for his conduct. During the trial and sentencing, he specifically forbade the mention of Manafort’s connections to foreign contacts potentially involved with election interference. Thanks to the ineptitude of Manafort’s defense counsel, we know the charges are related to election interference. They poorly redacted their filing in the DC district case, which showed his continuing contacts with Kilimnik, during his trial period. That’s one of the reasons his plea agreement was nullified.