The following article by Spencer S. Hsu and Rosalind S. Helderman was posted on the Washington Post website September 1, 2018:
Trump officials have tried to cast George Papadopoulos as a low-level figure on the campaign, but documents show extensive contact with top campaign officials. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
Candidate Donald Trump “nodded with approval” when a former campaign adviser suggested a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2016, according to a court filing by lawyers seeking a lighter sentence for the adviser, who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russia contacts during the campaign.
The description of the meeting with Trump and then-Sen. Jeff Sessions was revealed Friday in the filing, which argued that George Papadopoulos should be spared jail time because his lies did not hinder the special counsel’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
In the filing, the attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss to put Papadopoulos on probation at his sentencing, which is set for Friday. They said claims that his falsehoods impeded prosecutors with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III were “speculative and contrary to the evidence.”