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WASHINGTON (AP) – A federal judge has ordered former Trump campaign foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos to go to prison as planned, rejecting his last-minute offer to delay his two-year sentence. weeks.
Papadopoulos must begin serving his sentence on Monday.
He was convicted in September for lying to the FBI as part of the investigation into Russia. He had requested the postponement of his jail sentence until a court of appeal ruled in a separate case challenging the constitutionality of the appointment of the special advocate Robert Mueller.
But in a 13-page opinion Sunday, US District Court Judge Randolph Moss said Papadopoulos had waited too long to challenge his conviction. Moss noted that Papadopoulos had agreed not to appeal as part of his plea agreement, and the judge ruled that the challenge of Mueller's appointment was unlikely to succeed in the Columbia District Court of Appeals. United States. Four different federal judges confirmed Mueller's appointment.
"The prospect that the DC circuit will come to a contrary conclusion is remote," wrote Moss.
Papadopoulos filed an initial application on 16 November, nearly two months after the deadline for appealing his sentence or sentence. He then asked to postpone his sentence while waiting for this petition on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving.
"Papadopoulos waited until the eleventh hour to seek relief. in fact, he did not file his second motion – the suspension application – until the last working day before the scheduled remission of his sentence, "says the order given by Moss." He only has his own delay to blame. "
Responding to the judge's order, Papadopoulos wrote in a tweet on Sunday that he was anxious to tell the whole story of his case. In recent months, he has spent many nights posting on Twitter, as has his wife, expressing his anger over the FBI and insisting that he was under government control. He also offered to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 elections, if it enjoys immunity or other conditions.
"The truth will be all out. Not even a prison sentence can stop this momentum, "tweeted Papadopoulos. "I can not wait to testify publicly shortly thereafter. The wool will not be stifled forever by the eyes of America. "
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty last year to lying to federal agents about his dealings with Russian middlemen during the 2016 presidential campaign. He also lost most of his rights to challenge his conviction.
His lawyer argued that the appeal process could be new evidence to challenge him. This case was brought by a witness refusing to comply with a summons to appear before Mueller's grand jury.
Papadopoulos' sentence, pronounced by Moss on 7 September, was well below the government's six-month maximum sentence, but higher than the probation requested by Papadopoulos and his lawyers. Moss had noted that many similar cases had resulted in probation, while asserting that he had imposed a prison sentence in part so that the public would be warned that people could not lie to the FBI.
Papadopoulos, the first campaign assistant sentenced in the Mueller investigation, opened the initial investigation into Russia two years ago. Memos written by Republicans and Democrats in the House and now declassified show that information on Papadopoulos's contacts with Russian middlemen opened the FBI's counterintelligence investigation in July 2016 on a possible coordination between the Russia campaign and Trump. This investigation was later resumed by Mueller.
The White House said Papadopoulos was a low-level volunteer for the campaign.
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