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A once-discreet foreign policy advisor, whose remarks in a London bar in May 2016 triggered an FBI counterintelligence investigation into President Trump's campaign, was sentenced Friday in Washington to 14 days in prison.
George Papadopoulos, 31, pleaded guilty in October to having lied to the FBI about the details of his conversations with a London-based professor who told him that the Russians held thousands of emails on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Papadopoulos tried hard for months to organize a meeting between the main campaign advisers and Russian officials.
In asking for leniency in court, Papadopoulos said that he had committed "a terrible mistake, for which I paid a terrible price, and I am ashamed", and that he was motivated to lie to the FBI for " to create a distance between the problem, myself and the president.
In hindsight, he said in court, he acknowledged that it was false and "could have harmed the investigation".
Papadopoulos' lawyer, Thomas M. Breen, went further and said that "the President of the United States has further impeded this investigation than George Papadopoulos was ever able to do," calling the information false news. and witch hunt.
In this photo of President Donald Trump's Twitter account, George Papadopoulos, third from left, is sitting at a table with candidate Trump and others on what was flagged at a national security meeting in Washington March 31, 2016. / AP)
After an Australian diplomat reported to his US counterparts that Papadopoulos had told him about his "dirt" approach, the FBI opened his investigation, at the time WikiLeaks was publishing thousands of internal emails online .
His conviction is part of the investigation by the special advocate Robert S. Mueller III that led to the conviction or sentencing of 32 people.
Papadopoulos, a young oil and gas consultant, was the first Trump leader to plead guilty and cooperate in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US elections.
The federal sentencing guidelines under the Papadopoulos agreement provided for a six-month sentence.
[[[[Senior campaign officials were aware of Trump's advisor's presence in Russia]
Trump criticized the investigation and the Department of Justice on the day of its inauguration, Breen told US District Judge Randolph D. Moss. "The message here is to check your loyalty, tell the truth and help the good ones, even if you have to pay a price," said Breen.
Addressing journalists on board Air Force One on Friday before the conviction, Trump downplayed his relationship with Papadopoulos.
"I see Papadopoulos today, I do not know Papadopoulos, I do not know. I saw him sitting on a table at a table with me – that's the only thing I know about him, "he said, apparently in reference to a March 31, 2016 campaign meeting in which Papadopoulos and Trump attended.
Three other campaign leaders, President Paul Manafort, Assistant Campaign Director Rick Gates and National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, either pleaded guilty or were convicted of various crimes, but none of the three still been convicted.
Gates testified against Manafort, who was recently sentenced in Virginia on charges of bank and tax fraud by the Mueller team.
Prosecutors did not recommend a sentence for Papadopoulos, but said they should go up to six months in prison, saying he had repeatedly lied to federal investigators and had not told them not provided substantial cooperation.
[Trump campaign emails show aide’s repeated efforts to set up Russia meetings]
They said that Papadopoulos' first lies prevented investigators from effectively questioning, challenging or detaining Joseph Mifsud, the London professor who had contacted him. Mifsud left the United States and did not return after the FBI found him in the United States on February 11, 2017, about two weeks after Papadopoulos' first interview.
Papadopoulos's lawyers have asked for their client's probation and have stated in court records that Papadopoulos misled the investigators to try to save his professional ambitions and for "poorly guided loyalty to his master" but not for more reasons. claims.
[Former Trump adviser Papadopoulos asks judge to spare him jail time]
His lawyers claimed that their client had provided information, for example by describing a meeting of March 31, 2016 in which the then-candidate Trump had "approved with approval" a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Jeff Sessions "also seemed to like the idea and said the campaign should look into the issue."
This report conflicts with what Sessions, now Attorney General, testified before Congress. A spokeswoman for Sessions declined to comment after Papadopoulos' filing last week.
As part of his sentence, Mr. Papadopoulos will also have one year of judicial supervision, 200 hours of community service and a $ 9,500 fine.
[Mueller prosecutors seek up to six months in prison for George Papadopoulos in Russia probe]
In his 16-page memo asking for clemency, his lawyers Breen, Robert W. Stanley and Todd S. Pugh wrote: "To say that George was out of his reach would be a euphemism. Despite being a young guru of energy policy, he had no experience with Russian politics or his officials.
Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.
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