Since the surprise announcement of his indictment and guilty plea on Oct. 30, 2017, the short-term, volunteer Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos has often been described as a central figure in the Trump-Russia affair. Now, a new court filing from special counsel Robert Mueller suggests Papadopoulos was a bit player all along.
Mueller never charged Papadopoulos with any crime involving a conspiracy, or collusion, between the Trump campaign and Russia to fix the 2016 election. Instead, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the FBI. He is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 7.
In preparation, Mueller’s office on Friday submitted a memorandum to U.S. District Court in Washington outlining the special counsel’s position on sentencing. Although Mueller is adamant that Papadopoulos serve some time in jail — the range for the offense is between zero and six months — the special counsel suggested the final sentence should be just 30 days. As justification, Mueller cited the 30-day sentence given to Alex van der Zwaan, one of the small-time figures caught up in the Trump-Russia probe.
It wasn’t the stuff of a “conspiracy against the United States” that Mueller cheerleaders like to cite, nor even of a significant player in the Trump-Russia matter.
Still, Mueller stressed that it was serious business. “The defendant knew the questions he was asked by the FBI were important, and he knew his answers were false at the time he gave them,” Mueller wrote. “The nature and the circumstances of the offense warrant a sentence of incarceration.” – READ MORE
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