Deleted Papadopoulos Tweets Cited To Justify His Imprisonment
May 7, 2020 | News | No Comments
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for convicted former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos do not want him to have to show up to begin serving 14 days in federal prison next Monday. The Chicago native was the first defendant to plead guilty as well as the first person sentenced to prison as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation after he admitted lying to FBI about his interactions with intermediaries for Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Prosecutors from the special counsel’s office responded to the request in a filing Wednesday. They argued the request was an attempt to delay proceedings, and cited public statements from Papadopoulos “that appear to be inconsistent with his stated acceptance of responsibility at sentencing.”
Papadopoulos, 31, grew up in Lincolnwood and graduated from Niles West High School and DePaul University. He went on to study and work in London until joining an advisory committee for Ben Carson’s presidential campaign in his first foray into politics, which led to a gig with the 2016 Trump campaign.
At his sentencing hearing in September, the government had sought the maximum penalty of six months imprisonment. Papadopoulos’ attorneys argued for probation.
“I made a dreadful mistake, but I am a good man who is eager for redemption,” Papadopoulos said at the time, according to the Associated Press. In addition to the two weeks in a federal penitentiary, a judge ordered Papadopoulos to a year of supervised release, 200 hours of community service and a $9,500 fine. As part of the terms of the guilty plea he signed onto last December, Papadopoulos cannot appeal the judgement.
#MakeAmericaGreatAgain #Trump2016https://t.co/aANxirUJJD pic.twitter.com/VlMynYN3sd
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2016
But despite forfeiting his rights to appeal his conviction as part of his guilty plea, his attorneys argued there was a chance a separate pending case could overturn his conviction.
In that case, known as “In re Grand Jury Investigation,” Roger Stone associate Andrew Miller has appealed a judge’s order holding him in contempt of court due to his refusal to go along with subpoenas issued by Mueller’s investigation to a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Papadopoulos’ attorneys asked for a “modest stay of his incarceration pending the outcome of that appeal.” Mueller’s appointment has previously been found to be constitutional by four different federal judges, according to the AP.
In the response filing Wednesday, prosecutors for the special counsel’s office said Papadopoulos would not be eligible to remain out on bail for even if there were an appeal pending in his particular case, which there is not. They argued that Papadopoulos’ and social media posts and public statements show the request for a stay is nothing more than a delaying tactic.
The government contrasted Papadopoulos’ statements at sentencing with several subsequent public statements, including deleted tweets from Papadopoulos’ account. On Sept. 7, Papadopoulos admitted he had “lied to the FBI,” that it was “wrong” and “a crime.” He said his parents had raised him with “principles of honesty and respect for the law” and he was “grateful” to “assist the investigation,” telling the judge he had “nothing but respect for the court and the legal process,” according to lawyers for the special counsel’s office.
But last month, Papadopoulos tweeted that his prosecution was “the biggest case of entrapment,” and said during a television interview he was “considering withdrawing” the agreement because he “was framed,” according to the filing.
“If I knew what I knew today, I would never plead guilty,” said Papadopoulos, in other now-deleted tweets cited by the government. Earlier this month he tweeted that pleading guilty was his “biggest regret,” prosecutors said.
Following his guilty plea, lawyers for the former campaign aide had argued it would constitute a “hardship or inequity” for him to show up to prison as scheduled following his plea agreement and sentencing. Papadopoulos “risks serving a sentence of incarceration that was unconstitutionally obtained,” they wrote.
“But beginning to serve a sentence within his contemplated plea range while a legal issue is pending on appeal in an unrelated case does not qualify as hardship or inequity,” prosecutors wrote.
“The defendant received what he bargained for, and holding him to it is not a hardship.”
A “Support for George Papadopoulos” online fundraising campaign, managed by Papadopoulos’ wife Simone Mangiante-Papadopoulos, has raised more than $15,000 of a $250,000 goal over the past five months. She wrote she is “fighting for the truth and waiting to be allowed to work in this country.” Papadopoulos continued tweeting Wednesday following the filing of the motion citing his previously deleted comments on the same account.
I NEVER flipped against the president. What I did do, however, is expose the corruption of this “investigation” for the world to see. The legacy is what matters now, how history remembers these days. Silence during these critical days was never an option. All must be exposed.
— George Papadopoulos (@GeorgePapa19) November 21, 2018
Earlier:
Nov. 16 motion from lawyers for George Papadopoulos:
Nov. 21 response from special counsel’s office: