George Papadopoulos, who met behind closed doors with three House lawmakers Thursday, says he wants immunity if he is going to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which still is conducting a serious investigation into Russian election interference.
It's unclear why Papadopoulos wants immunity after he was already sentenced to two weeks in prison for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian intermediaries during the campaign. But he has spent many nights posting on Twitter, along with his wife, venting anger about the FBI and insisting he was framed by the government.
Papadopoulos appeared on Capitol Hill on Thursday for a closed-door interview with Republicans in the House who are investigating what they say is bias at the Justice Department. He did not receive immunity for that interview.
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Papadopoulos said in an interview Friday on "Fox & Friends" that he learned new information in the meeting and is considering withdrawing his guilty plea.
It's unlikely that he would be able to do that. Federal law generally does not allow defendants to withdraw a guilty plea after sentencing without proof of some overriding injustice or new evidence.
Legal analysts said it would be difficult, and likely impossible, for Papadopoulos to withdraw from his plea agreement at this stage, given that he has already pleaded guilty and been sentenced.
“If he is suggesting that he has the ability to withdraw from a guilty plea after he has been sentenced, I suspect he has not consulted a competent lawyer on that topic,” said Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor in D.C. who added that an individual can't withdraw, “absent ineffective assistance of your counsel.”
He said withdrawing would mean proving the defense attorney had either defrauded the client or was “wildly incompetent.”
“That might be a basis to withdraw, but it’s a very strict test that the courts apply when they are entertaining a motion to withdraw a guilty plea,” Kirschner said. “Usually, it can’t be done after he has been sentenced.”
Republicans said they learned new facts from Papadopoulos but wouldn't detail what they were. They repeated their claims, echoed by President Donald Trump, that the Justice Department made mistakes in 2016 as it cleared Democrat Hillary Clinton in an investigation of her emails and started a probe of Trump's Russia ties.
Papadopoulos wants immunity to testify before Senate (AP)
Papadopoulos considers withdrawing from plea deal with Mueller (The Hill)