George Papadopoulos, the former Donald Trump adviser who prosecutors said was at the center of Russian government efforts to contact the Trump campaign, may decide as early as today whether he will withdraw the guilty plea and cooperation agreement he struck with special counsel Robert Mueller.
On Friday, prosecutors recommended jail time for the former Trump foreign policy advisor, citing lies he had told the FBI.
Papadopoulos’s wife, Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos told NBC5 Investigates she and her husband held meetings with their Chicago-based attorneys Tuesday.
“It was very productive,” she said. “And by today we will make a final decision.”
On Monday, George Papadopoulos declared on Twitter, “Been a hell of a year. Decisions.”
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty last fall to lying to the FBI about his contacts prior to the election with a professor who prosecutors said was connected with officials of the Russian government. But in a filing Friday, prosecutors suggested his cooperation had been flawed at best, because he had repeatedly lied during questioning.
“The defendant did not provide ‘substantial assistance’,” they wrote, “and much of the information provided by the defendant came only after the government confronted him with his own emails, text messages, internet search history, and other information it had obtained via search warrants and subpoenas well after the defendant’s FBI interview.”
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Papadopolous’s wife said Tuesday's events surrounding the guilty plea of the president’s attorney Michael Cohen and conviction of former campaign chief Paul Manfort will have no bearing on their decision.
“Absolutely not---nothing to do with that,” she said. “Those are different than the situation my husband has been involved in.”
She noted that if Cohen is indeed cooperating with prosecutors, “George has been cooperating for one year.”
In their sentencing memo, the government asked that Papadopolous be sentenced to up to six months in prison, and be given a nominal fine.
