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George Papadopoulos, the former foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump's campaign who had pleaded guilty to the investigation into Russia last year, went on Twitter on Saturday to ask former FBI director James Comey to publicly testify about the FBI's alleged wrongful treatment of the FBI. Probe of Russia.
"If Jim Comey wants to testify in public and tell America who / why Trump was reporting to FISA, who is Joseph Mifsud, if the FBI had a role to play in my relationship with Charles Tawil, and explain the supervisory role of the United Kingdom and Australia, "he tweeted, "it would be good for the country."
But Comey has asked to testify publicly from the beginning.
Earlier this week, House Republicans – who will be a minority in the House of Commons in January – pushed Comey to appear before former Attorney General Loretta Lynch at the last minute.
Comey recognized the new Thursday, tweeting"Happy Thanksgiving, I have a subpoena from the Republicans in the House, I'm always happy to sit in the light and answer all the questions, but I will resist the" closed door ", because I've seen enough of them to leak and distort, let's have an audience and invite everyone to see. "
Democrats have also called for a public hearing, although Republicans are pushing for an in camera session as they continue their investigation into whether the FBI had allowed the anti-Trump bias to affect his treatment of the drug. Ongoing investigation on Russia.
Papadopoulos, for his part, claimed immunity in exchange for his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Legal experts said the application indicated that the former Trump collaborator might fear that his testimony would implicate him in a crime.
Read more: George Papadopoulos abandoned by his own lawyers while the former Trump employee embarked on a "defeatist strategy"
But Papadopoulos withdrew from his request Saturday.
"If Jim Comey agrees to answer the questions below during a public testimony, I will agree to testify in the Senate without immunity," tweeted Papadopoulos. "It's a win-win situation for the country – America first."
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI last year and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. At the hearing of his sentencing in September, he expressed remorse for his actions, saying "grateful" for the opportunity to assist in the investigation and did not find it. having "only respect for the Court and the judicial process".
But the former Trump assistant soon adopted a very different tone.
After the hearing of his sentence, Papadopoulos tweeted that the FBI's investigation was "the biggest case of trapping!" The next day, Papadopoulos said he was considering withdrawing his guilty plea because he thought he was being targeted.
A few days later, he tweeted that he had been sentenced "while exculpatory evidence was hidden from him".
He added that if he had known that at the time, he would never have pleaded guilty. And on November 9, Papadopoulos tweeted that his "biggest regret" was to plead guilty.
He has since deleted these tweets.
Read more: Mueller used George Papadopoulos's own tweets against him in a new court case
Papadopoulos hired new lawyers in September when he and his wife approached Twitter and the media to promote the unfounded theory that he was trapped by the FBI, which he said was "infiltrating" and "sabotaging" the Trump campaign.
Earlier this month, former Papadopoulos defense lawyers filed a motion withdrawing from his attorney.
Veterans of the Department of Justice pointed out that it was unusual for a lawyer to file documents to officially withdraw from a case.
Elie Honig, a former district attorney in New York's southern district specializing in organized crime cases, said it was likely that "Papadopoulos's lawyers are trying to disassociate himself from him because of the conspiracy theories that he has. he has advanced, or maybe they told him to stop, and he does not listen. "
If Papadopoulos seriously considers withdrawing his guilty plea, he will have to show a judge that he was misled or forced to plead guilty, and that the plea was not entirely voluntary. In practical terms, this would encourage the defendant to argue that his attorneys did not correctly explain the full terms of the plea or did not lie to him.
In this case, Papadopoulos' lawyers could also have withdrawn as they would no longer be able to represent him due to a conflict of interest.
The withdrawal of a plea of guilty is extremely difficult. And if Papadopoulos succeeds, he risks being in a more delicate situation than before because his indictment resurfaced and he would not be able to plead guilty with a cooperation agreement.
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