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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPapadopoulos Pled Guilty....
what did he plead guilty to? I heard that it was 'lying to Mueller'. What was his lie? And how by pleading guilty and cooperating with Mueller - has he turned that around - and what is his truthful story to Mueller now?
greeny2323
(590 posts)He lied to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials. He was covering up collusion with Russia, the central theme of the investigation.
NanceGreggs
(27,815 posts)... to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian operatives.
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)Who his Russian contacts were, who in the Trump administration knew what he was doing, and perhaps most damning of all, he apparently has been wearing a wire for the last three months.
Not Ruth
(3,613 posts)It was actually March. We have no idea what he really did. The idea of a plea is you plea to a lesser charge. He might have killed an FBI agent and then plead to this April/March email charge to beat the murder charge, for instance.
Nevernose
(13,081 posts)The timing is, indeed, mentioned. Its not a March/April thing. Thats a mischaracterization. He lied about when the contact was by claiming to have made contacts with the Russian government BEFORE he was with the Trump campaign. It was before, during, and after.
He told the FBI it was some friendly email banter, hellos, maybe some anti-Hillary bullshitting. Instead, it was introductions to the FSB and Russian government, searching for a quid pro quo to hurt Hillary and help Trump. Not a conspiracy theory anymore: the guy admitted it in court.
(Putins niece sounds like such an obvious honeypot its painful anyone could fall for it. This guy would have donated to free the imprisoned King of Nigeria)
Not Ruth
(3,613 posts)Like when the nice trooper gives you a ticket for not signaling a lane change, when you were really doing 95mph. You gladly lie and plead guilty to that lane change to avoid doing time.
He plead to a base offense level 6, which is very basic. With little or no criminal history, the sentencing guideline is 0-6 months. By taking the plea, he should be looking at the 0 month option.
Nevernose
(13,081 posts)Go past the first page and the pro forma plea agreement, and the details of the governments case are laid out. We know EXACTLY what he did. The link I gave you contains a ten page description of every detail of the crime. What he was charged with is wholly irellevant.
Im sure there are additional charges they could have added, and probably crimes they left out entirely. They also dont mention how they got their accurate information (warrants, taps, emails, etc.).
But the offense is way more than he told the FBI he talked to the Russians in April and it was actually March.