A federal judge on Thursday set sentencing on Sept. 7 for George Papadopoulos, a former adviser to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign who pleaded guilty in October to lying to the FBI about Russian contacts during the campaign.
Papadopoulos, 30, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, and both sides’ willingness to set a sentencing date signaled that the office of special counsel’s need of assistance from the young foreign policy adviser is coming to a close.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss set the 3 p.m. hearing at the request of the parties, and gave the government an Aug. 17 deadline to file its sentencing recommendation, and an Aug. 31 deadline for the defendant.
An end to Papadopoulos’ involvement would mark a milestone in the investigation, which formally opened after Australian officials alerted the FBI to an unusual interaction with him in London in July 2016.
Papadopoulos told an Australian diplomat that he had been told by a London-based professor, Josef Mifsud, that the Russians had damaging material about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
A retired professor and FBI source, Stefan Halper, that September invited Papadopoulos to London, offering him $3,000 to discuss an energy-related research paper. The activities of Halper led Trump and supporters to accuse the FBI of spying on his campaign.
Papadopoulos joined a volunteer national security panel advising the Trump campaign in March 2016, and apprised top staffers of its repeated, unsuccessful, attempts to arrange a meeting between campaign and Russian officials.
The young oil and gas consultant exchanged emails with senior campaign officials before the election and during the presidential transition, including with former top adviser Stephen Bannon and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
In a March 31, 2016, meeting of the advisory board attended by Trump and then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, Papadopoulos announced that he could arrange a meeting for Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to court documents.
Mifsud told Papadopoulos in April 2016 about the damaging emails, according to court documents, and introduced him to two Russians with connections to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents in February 2017 about his contacts with Mifsud and Russians. Papadopoulos’s wife this week stated her willingness to testify before Congress after earlier asking Trump to pardon him.
(c) 2018, The Washington Post · Spencer S. Hsu
{Matzav.com}
So this is it? Is this the best Mueller can do? This is where millions of our tax dollars are being spent?