Papadopoulos wants immunity to testify before Senate
WASHINGTON — George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign adviser who pleaded guilty in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, is asking for immunity to testify before the Senate intelligence committee.
Two people familiar with the negotiations said Friday that Papadopoulos has asked for the immunity as the committee seeks a closed-door interview with him. The people requested anonymity because the committee’s negotiations are confidential. The committee is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
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.
Republicans left the interview saying he had reinforced their belief that the FBI and Justice Department were biased against Trump when they started the Russia investigation. And 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.
A lawyer for Papadopoulos would not comment specifically on his request for immunity.
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.