Papadopoulos ordered to jail Monday

Source: Politico | November 25, 2018 | Josh Gerstein

A federal judge has rejected a last-ditch bid by former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos to put off his looming but brief federal prison sentence.

In ruling issued just a day before Papapdopoulos was scheduled to report to serve his two-week sentence for making false statements to FBI agents investigating alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia, U.S. District Court Judge Randy Moss said Papadopoulos’s legal arguments fell short of what was needed to justify delaying the sentence Moss imposed in September.

When Papapdopoulos entered his guilty plea last year, he passed up the opportunity to challenge special counsel Robert Mueller’s authority and the legality of his appointment, but in a pair of motions last week, the former Trump campaign adviser tried to harness a pending appeal in another case where a grand jury witness is leveling a legal attack on Mueller’s power.

However, Moss said in his 13-page ruling Sunday that Papadopoulos decision not to appeal his sentence and his agreement not to do so under most circumstances, left him with no viable legal avenue to demand relief. The judge also said he saw little likelihood the pending challenge to Mueller’s authority would prevail.

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.

Moss also noted that two of his colleagues on the district court bench in Washington, Chief Judge Beryl Howell and Judge Dabney Friedrich, have already rejected legal arguments that Mueller’s appointment ran afoul of the Constitution.

……..

Tagged: , , , ,

Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.