Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos is exploring ways in which he might withdraw from his plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller, according to his wife Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos.
George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty last year to misleading FBI agents concerning his contacts with Russians. He said in his guilty plea he would comply with Mueller’s team and “provide information regarding any and all matters as to which the government deems relevant.” Despite this cooperation, Mueller on Friday recommended to a federal judge that Papadopoulos get up to six months behind bars for lying to the FBI.
Fox News’ Sean Hannity asked Simona Papadopoulos Monday evening if her husband was planning to withdraw his plea deal, a question that came after ABC News reported he was considering doing it. “We are discussing now the possibility and the technicalities behind this possibility with lawyers,” Simona Papadopoulos told Hannity. “We have important meetings tomorrow.”
She said that some lawyers have told her that there is a case for withdrawing the plea deal.
In her interview with ABC News, Simona Papadopoulos revealed that her husband would make a final decision by Tuesday. “He needs a serious conversation with his attorney,” she told the outlet.
In recommending to a judge that George Papadopoulos get jail time, Mueller’s prosecutors said the former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser “caused damage” to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, preventing authorities from potentially arresting a professor before he left the U.S. Papadopoulos says this professor, identified in media reports as Joseph Mifsud, first told him that some Russians had dirt on Trump’s 2016 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
George Papadopoulos tried unsuccessfully for months to set up a meeting between Trump campaign officials and Russian officials.
President Trump has called Mueller’s probe a “witch hunt” and maintained that his campaign never colluded with the Russians.
[Previous coverage: George Papadopoulos’ wife interviewed by House Intelligence Committee Democrats]
