By JOSH GERSTEIN, Politico
Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, the first suspect charged in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia probe, is asking a court to allow him to avoid prison time for lying to federal investigators.
In a filing submitted shortly before midnight Friday, lawyers for Papadopoulos urged U.S. District Court Judge Randy Moss to reject Mueller’s recommendation that their client get up to six months in prison for misleading the FBI about the timing and scope of his contacts with individuals connected to Russia.
Papadopoulos’ attorneys say he didn’t lie out of concern he was involved in a dastardly plot, but due to more pedestrian worries about his job prospects and avoiding embarrassment to the Trump campaign.
“His motives for lying to the FBI were wrongheaded indeed but far from the sinister spin the Government suggests,” defense lawyers Tom Breen, Todd Pugh and Robert Stanley wrote. “Caught off-guard by an impromptu interrogation, Mr. Papadopoulos misled investigators to save his professional aspirations and preserve a perhaps misguided loyalty to his master. … While his offense was grave, Mr. Papadopoulos did not intend to derail the federal investigation.”
Papadopoulos appears to have been the first person in Trump circles alerted to the fact that the Russians had access to emails that could be damaging to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. At a sealed court hearing in July, the junior energy policy analyst pleaded guilty to a false-statement charge, admitting that he initially lied to the FBI about various matters, including when he was first informed about the so-called “dirt” on Clinton.
In recent weeks, Papadopoulos’ wife, Simona Mangiante, publicly sought new attorneys for her husband, said he might seek to unwind his guilty plea and solicited a pardon from Trump. However, his filing Friday was made by the same lawyers who’ve represented him for a year and gives no hint of retreating from his plea.
Papadopoulos has acknowledged he got a heads-up about the emails from Professor Joseph Mifsud during a meeting in London in April 2016. However, in his initial conversation with the FBI he said he didn’t know anything about hacked emails until later in the year.
“George lied, minimized, and omitted material facts. Out of loyalty to the new president and his desire to be part of the administration, he hoisted himself upon his own petard,” the attorneys wrote.
The defense filing Friday arguably shows less loyalty to the president, contending that at a March 2016 meeting of foreign policy advisers, Trump and Sen. Jeff Sessions showed interest in Papadopoulos’ proposal to try to arrange a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“While some in the room rebuffed George’s offer, Mr. Trump nodded with approval and deferred to Mr. Sessions who appeared to like the idea and stated that the campaign should look into it,” Papadopoulos’ lawyers wrote.
The defense filing often refers to Papadopoulos by his first name alone — an approach that seems aimed at portraying him as a naif surrounded by far more sophisticated players. At one point, the submission refers to Papadopoulos — who was 28 at the time of his encounters in London — as “young George.” Intentionally or not, some passages seem to evoke the “Curious George” children’s stories, where a wide-eyed monkey is constantly amazed and surprised by his more savvy human companions.
In their filing last month arguing that Papadopoulos should get some time in prison, prosecutors argued that he set back the FBI’s investigation by misstating the sequence of events. Had investigators known more about Mifsud’s role when they first spoke to Papadopoulos in January 2017, they could have attempted to question Mifsud while he was on a visit to the U.S., Mueller’s team asserted.
But Papadopoulos’ defense disputed that his statements actually impaired the probe.
“It seems improbable that the investigators would have challenged Professor Mifsud with George’s statements for fear of revealing their source. Additionally, if Professor Mifsud denied telling George about the stolen emails, it is unlikely he would have said something different if the agents confronted him with additional information,” the attorneys wrote.
Papadopoulos maintains he never told anyone else in the Trump campaign about the tip-off that the Russians were sitting on damaging emails related to Clinton.
Papadopoulos’ sentencing is set for Sept. 7. He faces a maximum possible sentence of up to five years in prison, although both sides in the case have agreed that sentencing guidelines call for him to receive between zero and six months in custody.
Papadopoulos is on track to be the second person sentenced in Mueller’s investigation. Earlier this year, Dutch attorney Alex Van Der Zwaan got one month in jail for lying during questioning by FBI agents and prosecutors involved in the probe. Papadopoulos’ lawyers say he deserves a more lenient sentence because “George’s criminal conduct was far less egregious.”
The defense notes that Van Der Zwaan is an attorney and that his lies came later in the investigation, after Mueller was appointed and the scope of his inquiry became more clear.
Papadopoulos spent one night in jail after he was arrested as he arrived at Dulles Airport on a flight from Germany last year. He has been on supervised release since that time, although his and his wife’s social media feeds show him traveling extensively.
