Pull out of Mueller plea agreement?

Papadopoulos threatens to pull out of Mueller plea agreement

By CAITLIN OPRYSKO

Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos said on Friday that he is considering withdrawing from a cooperation agreement he entered into with special counsel Robert Mueller, the investigator probing allegations of collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russian government.

“I believe there was tremendous misconduct on the government's behalf regarding my case,” Papadopoulos told “Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade. “And given certain information I learned just yesterday that I can't publicly disclose right now, I'm actually even considering withdrawing my agreement I have come to with the government.”

Papadopoulos, who advised the Trump campaign on foreign policy issues and was sentenced in September to two weeks in jail, despite reaching a plea deal with Mueller for lying to investigators, said he believes he has been “set up” by the government and that his plea deal was the result of inadequate counsel.

“Let's just say, maybe it was [a] chaotic moment when I pled and that's exactly why I have new counsel now,” he said. “And we are actively looking into new options. And possibly withdrawing from this agreement right now.”

A spokesman for Mueller's office declined to comment on Papadopoulos' remarks.

Papadopoulos, who prosecutors say revealed to the Australian ambassador to the United Kingdom in 2016 that he knew Russia had “dirt” on then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, said Friday that he did not recall such a conversation, which kicked off the FBI’s probe into Russian interference in the presidential election.

He agreed with Kilmeade’s suggestion that if his revelation to the ambassador was the basis for the Mueller investigation, the probe would be a “a complete, total sham.”

It is unclear what it would mean for Papadopoulos if he were to break his agreement with the special counsel's team, as he has already briefed investigators from Mueller's team and been sentenced.

When recommending that Papadopoulos serve jail time, the special counsel argued that his dishonesty impeded their investigation and cost them the opportunity to interview the professor with Russian ties who allegedly told Papadopoulos about Moscow’s procurement of “thousands of emails” that would be damaging to Clinton.

Papadopoulos declined to say whether the special counsel’s team tried to get him to turn on the president but said that he continues to support Trump’s presidency. Papadopoulos and his wife have threatened that he could withdraw from his plea deal before, and on Friday said that “by principle and by precedent” he did not want to serve out any jail time because he believes he has been “framed.”

Papadopoulos’ statements came after he spent Thursday in hours in a closed-door meeting with members of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees.

Following the meeting, Republicans painted his testimony as further proof the Russia probe started off on rocky footing, while Democrats warned to take Papadopoulos’ word with a grain of salt, given that he pleaded guilty to lying and that the special counsel recommended jail time to begin with, arguing that his dishonesty impeded their investigation.

Papadopoulos on Friday continued to echo claims by Trump and his allies that bias within the Justice Department was to blame in the Russia probe.

He also repeatedly claimed to have no contacts with Russia and said he was a victim of government corruption.

“As I've stated, all my contacts were completely in the Middle East, and Israel in particular and Europe. I had absolutely no contacts in Russia,” he said. “Just given that, how on Earth could a man like me be at the center of a Russia conspiracy unless I was completely framed by Western intelligence to make it seem that Papadopoulos was interacting with Russians and that he's the patsy that started this whole investigation?”

Papadopoulos’ claims of mistreatment by the government run counter to what his lawyers at the time said of his sentencing.

“Our firm would, in a second, stand up if we saw prosecutorial or governmental misconduct. We have seen no such thing,” attorney Thomas Breen said then.