Former Trump aide George Papadopoulos admits 'wrongheaded' lying, begs leniency

last updated 1 September 2018

Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos in a court filing late Friday night admitted to lying to federal investigators during their probe into Russian election meddling, a charge to which he pleaded guilty in October. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is seeking up to six months of jail time for Papadopoulos, but his defense attorneys asked for leniency in the form of a probationary sentence.

When Papadopoulos lied to the FBI, his lawyers said in Friday's filing, he was trying to "save his professional aspirations and preserve a perhaps misguided loyalty to his master." His motives were "wrongheaded" but not "sinister," they argued, and while "his offense was grave, Mr. Papadopoulos did not intend to derail the federal investigation."

The filings also recount an incident in which Papadopoulos suggested in March 2016 that he could arrange a meeting between then-candidate Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. "While some in the room rebuffed George's offer, Mr. Trump nodded with approval and deferred to [future Attorney General Jeff] Sessions who appeared to like the idea and stated that the campaign should look into it," the attorneys report.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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