Former Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos, convicted of lying to the FBI, learned his punishment on Friday: two weeks of jail.
The sentencing began at 3 p.m. Papadopoulos admitted before the judge that he made a mistake. Eventually, the judge took a 15-minute break to decide.
Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign foreign policy advisor, pleaded guilty last year, admitting he lied to the FBI about his conversations about “dirt” on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with a professor with links to the Russian government.
Simona Mangiante-Papadopoulos, who has done multiple media appearances in support of her husband, is still hoping that President Donald Trump pardons him.
“Unless Trump is completely incoherent, no one deserves a pardon more than George,” she told Law&Crime’s Brian Ross this week. “George is particularly calm. He wants it to be over. I’m much more nervous than he is honestly. He has told me ‘I want to go there with head held high and demonstrate that I did cooperate.’”
There seems to have been a moment of doubt for the couple on whether to vacate the plea agreement Papadopoulos reached with the special counsel and fight or to push forward and face the music. Consider this cryptic tweet from August:
With today’s sentencing, however, we see which path they chose.
Although Papadopoulos’ involvement with the campaign has been dismissed in the past as “coffee boy” status, Mangiante-Papadopoulos has said that characterization is false.
Papadopoulos and his wife are already looking forward to the next chapter in their lives. The two wed in circumstances that were not exactly ideal back in March. It happened in the basement of the Cook County courthouse in Chicago, and Law & Crime’s Brian Ross was on hand to see it.
Papadopoulos and his wife are looking forward to a book deal about their romance, as well a movie role for her as Brigitte Bardot.
The president weighed in Friday evening.
[Image via Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images]
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