Posted on 09/07/2018 2:30:08 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
WASHINGTON — The man whose boozy conversation with a diplomat may have launched the federal government's investigation into Russian election interference was sentenced Friday to 14 days in jail and one year of supervised release for lying to the FBI.
The defendant, George Papadopoulos, a one-time up-and-comer from Chicago who served as a foreign policy adviser on Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, pleaded guilty last October to making a false statement when the FBI interviewed him in January 2017.
"I made a terrible mistake," Papadopoulos, 31, said in a statement to Judge Randolph Moss in the Washington, D.C., courtroom. "I hope to have a second chance to redeem myself."
Moss said he thought Papadopoulos' remorse was genuine.
"I do credit the sense that he does feel remorse," Moss said. However, the judge added, the crime was "a calculated exercise of self-interest over the national interest. He was seeking to assist himself in a way that placed his own personal ambitions above the interests of the United States."
The government recommended a sentence in line with what Alex van der Zwaan, the Dutch attorney who also pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe, received: 30 days in jail. Papadopoulos, was also ordered to pay a fine of $9,500, is the second person sentenced in Mueller's investigation.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Papadopoulos "crime" was he told the FBI the wrong date of a meeting he had.
https://www.justice.gov/file/1007346/download
And what is Hillary’s punishment for knowingly committing a felony with her unauthorized server?
Just thought I’d ask.
The Judge should make Mueller serve the 14 days for setting up Papadop.
And make Mueller personally provide restitution to the US for this complete waste of money.
“I made a terrible mistake,” Papadopoulos, 31, said in a statement to Judge Randolph Moss in the Washington, D.C., courtroom.
...
Yep. Don’t ever talk to the FBI without your lawyer present.
You know why he got the maximum fine of $9,500? Because the Famous But Incomptent needed to recover the $10K they tried to set him up with, but he left with a lawyer in Greece, I think it was and flew home without it.
Totally screwed up their operation. He comes across as an airhead, but he obviously has better sense than the deep state.
I loathe Jeff Sessions.
14 days might not seem like a lot but he has that on his record for the rest of his life. Not everyone is as gifted and rich as Martha Stewart.
The midterms and the aftermath can’t get here fast enough.
presuming this is the NBC article.
the point is not to list the crime, but to mention - for the zillionth time - the name “Trump” and “the federal government’s investigation into Russian election interference”.
that’s all that matters
Not legalese but the actual statement he made was a lie, why it was a lie, and the context.
Papadopoulos "crime" was he told the FBI the wrong date of a meeting he had.
Just like most people don't even realize that "Russian collusion" primarily means the hacking of John Podesta's email account to show that the DNC colluded with Hillary Clinton to deny Bernie Sanders the nomination.
Certain details don't really help the narrative.
14 days is about how much time you get for making a false 911 call
His lawyer basically trashed the President and Papadapoulis is basically blaming Trump as well. He’s just some naive guy who was protecting the President while hoping for a job. He’s going on all the lefty shows and playing the victim of Trump.
I posted a link to the government report. Why do you think I did that?
Papadopoulos 'can't guarantee' he never told Trump campaign about Russian dirt on Clinton
Former Trump campaign adviser George Papdadopoulos says he does not recall if he told his colleagues that Russia had damaging information about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, but would not rule it out.
"As far as I remember, I absolutely did not share this information with anyone on the campaign," Papadopoulos said in a CNN interview that aired Friday just after he was sentenced to 14 days in prison for making false statements to investigators.
"I might have, but I have no recollection of doing so," he added. "I can't guarantee. All I can say is, my memory is telling me that I never shared it with anyone on the campaign."
Asked in a separate interview with The New York Times about his whether his refusal to issue a ironclad denial leaves wiggle room for people to believe he passed the information to the campaign, Papadopoulos responded, "that’s all I can say."
"I don’t think I’m really leaving myself any wiggle room at all because probably 99 percent of my communication with the campaign was over email," he continued.
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to one count of lying to FBI agents last October in the special counsel's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, and whether the Trump campaign was involved.
Papadopoulos was told by a Kremlin-linked professor that Russia has thousands of emails that could damage Clinton's bid for the presidency. The adviser then told an Australian diplomat about the development, a fact the FBI used to open an investigation into Russia's election interference.
The former outside adviser cooperated with prosecutors, but special counsel Robert Mueller's team has indicated it did not bear much fruit and moved ahead with sentencing.
If Papadopoulos did inform the campaign about damaging information possessed by the Russians, it could add fodder to Mueller's investigation probing whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow.
Trump and his advisers have repeatedly denied there was collusion during the 2016.
I always thought Papadopoulos was a mole for the dems. This sentencing doesn’t change my mind.
Too true. But obviously the judge thought the “crime” was ridiculous, too. “Lying to the FBI” basically means that your recollection or even your expression of it differs from what they have decided to be the actual facts (bearing in mind that they weren’t there at the event and this is based on other interviews or on their own fantasies) and doesn’t even have to have any criminal intent.
This shouldn’t even be a crime, and I’m glad the bumbling Papadopoulos (who didn’t even knowingly commit a crime) got just a symbolic sentence for a symbolic crime.
I had given him the benefit of the doubt, but you’re probably right.
The only time lying to an FBI official (or anyone else) should be a crime is if you’ve officially *sworn* to tell the truth...as happens in a courtroom.
Martha Stewart was unavailable for comment.
14 days jail time for saying the wrong date to the FBI.
Of course, he worked for Trump just a short while anyway. But the libs will champion this as though they had put Bannon in jail. :)
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