Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos has been ordered to report to federal prison Monday as a federal judge rejected his last-minute bid to avoid his two week jail sentence.
Papadopoulos must surrender to agents on Monday to start his 14-day sentence for lying to FBI agents working on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
U.S. District Court Judge Randy Moss said Papadopoulos’s legal arguments fell short of what was needed to justify delaying the sentence that was handed down in September.
Papadopoulos lawyers argued that the former Trump adviser should be granted a ‘modest stay’ until an appellate court rules in a separate case challenging the legality of Mueller’s appointment.
But Moss rejected that argument, which he called an “11th hour” request, writing in a 13-page ruling that even if the challenge to Mueller’s appointment was successful – and he doubted it would be – that would unlikely give Papadopoulos cause to undo his own conviction.
Papadopoulos ‘has failed to demonstrate that the D.C. Circuit is likely to conclude that the appointment of the Special Counsel was unlawful – and, indeed, he has failed even to show that the appeal raises a ‘close question’ that ‘very well could be decided’ against the Special Counsel,’ Moss wrote.
Mueller’s team had opposed Papadopoulos’ request for a delay in his prison sentence, arguing he had waived his right to challenge Mueller’s appointment when he agreed to plead guilty.
Papadopoulos has spun government conspiracy theories on his Twitter feed, accusing prosecutors of ‘entrapment’ in an international setup. ‘Biggest regret? Pleading guilty,’ he wrote earlier this month.
His wife Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos has been pressing President Trump to pardon her husband.
At his original sentencing Papadopoulos admitted to lying to the special counsel’s team and expressed remorse.
According to a 2007 report by the Chicago Tribune, the Oxford Federal Prison Camp isn’t a standard prison.
There are no cellblocks, but multiple extracurricular activities including culinary classes and a walking track.