On Sunday, former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos failed in his attempt to postpone his 14-day jail sentence. He must report to federal custody on Monday, as originally scheduled. U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss said there was no reason why the defendant couldn’t have sooner submitted his challenges to the punishment.
“Rather than do so, Papadopoulos waited until the eleventh hour to seek relief; indeed, he did not file his second motion–the stay request–until the last business day before he was scheduled to surrender to serve his sentence,” Moss wrote in the end of his rather blistering critique of the defendant’s motions.
Papadopoulos’ new legal team filed a motion on Nov. 16 to continue bail pending a decision in Andrew Miller‘s challenge to Robert Mueller. They also filed a motion on Friday to push back the actual jail term.
Moss was hardly a fan of the timing of these filings. He pointed out that Papadopoulos is only making these motions a year after the plea, and over two months after the sentencing hearing.
The judge also dismissed the defendant’s involvement in the Miller case.
“Nothing in the text of the Bail Reform Act contemplates postponing the execution of a defendant’s sentence pending resolution of an appeal brought by a different party in a different case,” he wrote.
The judge said that Papadopoulos never explained why the filings never arrived in a more timely manner. He mentioned that any challenge to the conviction would need to overcome the plea agreement, which waived the right to challenge the guilty plea unless there is new evidence, or a claim of ineffective counsel. Papadopoulos only noted that he may bring a motion based on new evidence, Moss wrote.
“That is all that he says, and it is unpersuasive,” he wrote.
This blowback arrives after Papadopoulos said he was thinking about withdrawing from his plea deal, and then split with his original criminal lawyers.
[Image via Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images]
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