Coffee boy and foreign policy enthusiast George Papadopoulos doesn’t want to go to jail just yet. He’s asking a federal judge to delay his 14-day prison sentence until a separate appeal challenging special counsel Robert Mueller’s authority is resolved.
“If the entire apparatus that prosecuted Mr. Papadopoulos lacked authority to do so because it is deemed unconstitutional, such a motion would be granted, and his conviction would be reversed,” defense attorneys for Papadopoulos write in the filing.
The 31-year-old was sentenced to just two weeks in prison for perjury after convincing the judge he had shown genuine “remorse” for his crime.
Since then, Papadopoulos has embarked on an anti-Mueller spree in conservative media, claiming to be the victim of an international espionage conspiracy while trying to get a book deal out of it.
Papadopoulos waived his right to appeal in his plea agreement, which reads, “your client also waives any right to challenge the conviction entered or sentence imposed under the Agreement or otherwise attempt to modify or change the sentence or the manner in which it was determined in any collateral attack.”
It’s not clear if hinging the appeal on a separate case would somehow evade his earlier admission of guilt. Papadopoulos hired new lawyers last month, who are handling the new motion.
“Here, absent a stay of the execution of his sentence, the hardship and unfairness to Mr. Papadopoulos is palpable: he risks unnecessarily serving a sentence of incarceration that was unconstitutionally obtained,” the attorneys argue. “A deprivation of liberty that is illegal or unnecessary is presumed to be an irreparable harm.”
The filing does not address Papadopoulos’s admission of guilt.
