Special counsel Robert Mueller and attorneys for President Trump’s former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos filed rivaling documents in D.C. federal court Wednesday morning involving the latter’s imminent prison sentence for lying to FBI agents.
In a six-page filing entered on behalf of the U.S. government, Mr. Mueller asked U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss to deny a request made by the former Trump campaign adviser’s legal team last week that would keep their client out of prison pending the outcome of a separate federal appeals case challenging the constitutional of the special counsel’s probe.
“The motion should be denied,” Mr. Mueller wrote Wednesday. “The defendant has no pending appeal, his motion is made for purposes of delay and he has not presented a substantial legal question that is likely to result in reversal.”
Five days until his deadline for surrendering to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, defense lawyers separately filed another document Wednesday morning requesting that Papadopoulos remain free on bail while Judge Moss, an Obama appointee, weighs last week’s motion.
“If Mr. Papadopoulos is required to surrender during the pendency of his motion for bail pending appeal, the purpose of his motion would be frustrated,” attorney Christopher LaVigne wrote on behalf of the former Trump campaign adviser.
A spokesperson for the special counsel’s office declined to comment beyond its own court filing.
Papadopoulos, 31, pleaded guilty last year to lying to FBI agents about his contacts with Russians during the 2016 race. He was subsequently ordered to serve 14 days behind bars and was ordered to surrender to prison officials by Nov. 26.
Addressing the court during his sentencing hearing in Sept. 2018, Papadopoulos admitted that he “lied to the FBI” and said that “was wrong, it was a crime,” Mr. Mueller recalled in the special counsel’s latest filing.
Papadopoulos closed by saying he had been “grateful for the opportunity [he] was given to assist in this investigation” and that he had “nothing but respect for the Court and the legal process,” Mr. Mueller wrote Wednesday.
Papadopoulos has repeatedly criticized the special counsel’s investigation in the weeks since his sentencing, however, and earlier this month he described pleading guilty as his biggest regret.
Seeking reprieve prior to presumably starting his prison sentence this month, Papadopoulos drew the district judge’s attention last week toward a case pending in D.C. federal appeals court challenging the constitutionality of Mr. Mueller’s appointment as special counsel
Papadopoulos is not a party to the pending appeals case, and his time to challenge the D.C. court’s ruling expired nearly two months ago, Mr. Mueller wrote Wednesday.
“Moreover, the defendant expressly waived his rights to appeal a sentence within the statutory range, which he received,” Mr. Mueller added.
Mr. LaVigne, Papadopoulos’ lawyer, did not immediately return an email seeking comment on Mr. Mueller’s argument.
The federal appeals case cited in support of keeping Papadopoulos out of prison involves Andrew Miller, an associate to Mr. Trump’s fellow former campaign adviser Roger Stone. Mr. Miller was held in contempt of court for refusing to comply with a subpoena issued by the special counsel’s office, and his legal team has challenged the ruling in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals by alleging that Mr. Mueller was unconstitutionally appointed to lead the government’s investigation into the 2016 race.
Oral arguments in the matter were held this month.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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