The Former Trump campaign advisor who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and received a very lenient sentence because the judge was convinced of his remorse is walking on thin ice with comments he’s making almost immediately after sentencing.
George Papadopoulos received 14 days in prison on Friday for his crime when he might have spent as many as 6 months behind bars. What he said on Twitter Monday evening might not only be ticking off Judge Randy Moss. Special counsel Robert Mueller might also have a reason to raise the issue with the judge.
Papadopoulos went on quite a rant, essentially accusing “Clinton friend” Australian politician Alexander Downer of setting him up. He said “if British intelligence was weaponized against an American citizen” that would be a very big problem.
Downer, the former Australian foreign minister, was the guy Papadopoulos met for drinks in London back in May 2016. He said Papadopoulos told him that Russia had “political dirt” on Clinton. Downer notified Australian authorities, and they notified the FBI.
Papadopoulos is openly questioning Downer’s motives and saying that he has “no recollection” of discussing emails with him. He also said Downer should be “as exposed as Christoper Steele,” the ex-MI6 name behind the infamous Russia dossier.
Here’s what Papadopoulos had to say:
What was that noise — was that Papadopoulos lawyer Thomas Breen shrieking in the distance?
National security lawyer Bradley P. Moss pointed out that Papadopoulos was “risking the judge getting angry.”
He told Law&Crime that, in theory, the judge could see these tweets as “calling into question the sincerity of his statements to the court.”
That, in turn, could result in a revised sentencing. He said this was unlikely, however, unless Team Mueller raises the issue.
He said that the Department of Justice “almost certainly has internal policy guidelines outlining in what circumstances post-sentencing information that comes to light should be viewed as sufficient to justify raising the matter before the trial judge,” but the ball is in Mueller’s court.
“The question is whether this is enough in Mueller’s view,” Moss added.
We’ll see if that is the case.
Three hours after tweeting out all of these things, Papadopoulos sent out another tweet emphasizing that is “ashamed” of the “lie” he told. After expressing that remorse, he shifted gears again.
“On the other hand, I did notify them that I thought Downer was recording me with his phone,” he said. “I hope that was investigated.”
[Image via Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images]