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Papadopoulos was sentenced this autumn to 14 days in prison for lying to investigators about his contacts with Russian affiliates during the election campaign, a charge he admitted in court and for which he expressed remorse over a judge. But aside from his criminal proceedings, Papadopoulos has publicly criticized the FBI, the investigation of Russia and its plea agreement.
Papadopoulos is scheduled to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons on Monday to begin serving his sentence. He asked the judge to delay the start of his sentence. He claims that his sentence should be suspended while a court of appeal examines the constitutionality of Robert Mueller's appointment in a separate case. The judge in charge of the case, Randolph Moss, of the US District Court in Washington, has not yet made a decision on Papadopoulos' claims.
But Mueller's special advocate's office, which accused Papadopoulos of the crime committed last year, Wednesday urged the judge to abide by Papadopoulos' current timetable.
Prosecutors accused him of using his recent court applications simply "for the purpose of delay".
They also point out to Moss that the statements of the former Trump campaign advisor "seem to go against his stated acceptance of responsibility when sentencing".
When sentencing, Papadopoulos delivered a humiliating mea culpa. He spoke for several minutes, reading in a newspaper how he realized that he had harmed the federal inquiry into the influence of Russia during the election presidential election of 2016.
He told the judge that he respected the judicial system and the judicial process, and that his plea of guilty and conviction should tell other witnesses that the Mueller case investigation "has global implications and the truth counts." His own lawyer, Thomas Breen, told Judge Papadopoulos that he was "unsophisticated", "naive", "made stupid and stupid mistakes" and "was a fool". (Papadopoulos has since hired a different legal team.)
"In hindsight, lying to federal agents on such a critical issue could have hurt our country, and for that I am deeply embarrassed and personally ashamed," Papadopoulos told the court in September. He then asked the court for a "second chance to buy me back".
Moss answered him indulgently.
"When I heard what Mr. Papadopoulos said, I am convinced that he actually feels remorse," Moss said before sentencing him to a lower prison term than other defendants found guilty in the investigation into the Mueller case.
Papadopoulos has since turned the conspiracy theories of the government mainly on his Twitter feed. He accused the federal investigators of "trapping" in an international configuration. "The biggest regret is pleading guilty," he wrote earlier this month.
More recently, Mangiante wrote on Twitter that she did not want him to agree to the plea agreement last year. "Anyone can see that he is a wild lion," said his tweet on Tuesday.
Even on Wednesday, while Moss was planning to postpone his date of imprisonment, Papadopoulos criticized Mueller's investigation on Twitter. "I never turned against the president, but what I did was expose the corruption of this" investigation "to the world," he wrote. "Inheritance is what matters now, how history remembers these days." Silence during these critical days has never been an option – all must be exposed.
As Papadopoulos agreed to plead guilty and had been sentenced more than two months ago, he waived many of the rights granted to the defendants. He no longer has the right to appeal his sentence, to request a review of his presentation by a grand jury or to request a jury trial. He could, however, still claim in court that he had learned new evidence about his case or that he had already been the subject of ineffective legal representation.
His new lawyers did not answer questions about their strategy on Wednesday.
The date of the beginning of the Papadopoulos prison on November 26 will remain in place unless the judge intervenes.
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