Convicted Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos is supposed to start serving his 14-day sentence for lying to the FBI on November 26th, but now he wants to postpone his incarceration until after a federal appeals court rules on the constitutionality of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's appointment.
Papadopoulos’s lawyers argued Friday that he is not a flight risk and that little harm would result from allowing him to put off his prison sentence until a case that could invalidate his conviction is resolved.
A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard arguments earlier this month in the case, which involves a former assistant to Trump confidante Roger Stone who has been subpoenaed to provide testimony in front of Mueller’s grand jury.
The assistant, Andrew Miller, has refused to comply. His legal team has argued Mueller’s appointment was unconstitutional because Mueller’s authority is too broad and his work has too little oversight from the Department of Justice.
Miller’s lawyers contend that Mueller’s authority has made him essentially akin to a “principal officer” under the Constitution, which would require confirmation by the Senate.
Attorneys for Mueller have argued that he is in fact an “inferior officer,” like other Justice Department officials, and that his work has been supervised by an official appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, Deputy Attorney Gen. Rod J. Rosenstein.
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Two federal judges at the district court level have ruled that Mueller’s appointment was constitutional in other cases, but Miller’s case is the first to be reviewed at the higher appellate level.
Papadopoulos, who expressed remorse during sentencing in September, has changed his tune considerably.
More recently, he has been active on Twitter, alleging that he was set up by Western intelligence.
This week, he replaced the Chicago-based lawyers who helped him negotiate his plea deal with Mueller with a new team from the Los Angeles-based firm Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht, suggesting he had new plans to fight his conviction.
Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos asks for delay in imprisonment (WaPo)