George Papadopoulos' sentencing is scheduled for tomorrow, and his defense team filed a sentencing memo on August 31st asking for leniency on the ground the Trump campaign foreign policy advisor was not a malicious bad actor but rather merely "young," "eager," and "out of his depth" when he pursued setting up a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
The Special Counsel's sentencing memo recommends Papadopoulos serve up to six months' time, saying he repeatedly lied and caused harm to the federal investigation.
One notable statement in the Papadopoulos defense memo directly contradicts Attorney General Jeff Sessions' claim he rejected the advisor's offer to connect Trump and Putin. Instead, the memo says both Trump and Sessions approved of and encouraged Papadopoulos' ongoing pursuit of that foreign policy meeting.
Democrats have taken note of the discrepancy between Sessions' and Papadopoulos' accounts of what took place in that National Security Meeting, but they say they are leaving it alone for now.
Democrats told The Washington Post, they trust that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, will sort out the discrepancy as part of his wide-ranging probe, which is examining whether any of Trump’s associates conspired with Russians to influence the election’s outcome.
“Bob Mueller is in the possession, at this point, of more evidence than either the House or the Senate,” said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the House Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, adding that “there are other witnesses that I would bring in on this question and others that would be a higher priority for me” than Sessions.
Democrats also are not interested in giving President Trump a plausible excuse for firing Sessions when he could be replaced by someone willing to shut down the Mueller probe.
The question of Sessions’s trustworthiness has long bothered Democrats, several of whom recalled that even in closed-door testimony, he refused to answer sensitive questions such as whether Trump instructed him to take actions that would hinder the Russia investigation. For months, Democrats — particularly in the House — have argued with their Republican colleagues over recalling witnesses when there are discrepancies in testimony or when new information comes to light. But with no subpoena power, Democrats have largely been stymied — and now predict that resolving the Sessions-Papadopoulos dispute will be no different.
“Obviously,” said Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, “some people are lying to us because [testimony is] inconsistent. . . . It is one of several examples of where somebody had to have lied to us.”
For now, Democrats won’t challenge Sessions again over proposed Trump-Putin meeting (WaPo)
Document: George Papadopoulos Defense Team Sentencing Memo (Lawfare)