Papadopoulos, ex-Trump campaign adviser, ordered to jail Monday

Nov. 25 (UPI) -- A federal judge Sunday ordered former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos to begin his two-week jail sentence Monday as scheduled.

Randy Moss, a U.S. District Court judge in the District of Columbia, turned down two motions by Papadopoulos' attorneys, writing that the legal arguments fell short of what was needed to justify delaying the sentence imposed in September.

Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty to making false statements to FBI agents investigating alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia. He is the first former Trump aide to be sentenced in connection to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

He passed up the opportunity to challenge Mueller's authority and the legality of his appointment. But in motions filed on Nov. 17 and Wednesday, his attorneys tried to be benefited by the pending appeal in another case challenging Mueller's power.

But in a 13-page ruling, Moss wrote that Papadopoulos' decision not to appeal his sentence left him with no viable legal way to rule in his favor. In addition, the judge said he saw little likelihood the pending challenge to Mueller's authority would prevail.

He wrote that Papadopoulos "has failed to demonstrate that the D.C. Circuit is likely to conclude that the appointment of the Special Counsel was unlawful -- and, indeed, he has failed even to show that the appeal raises a 'close question' that 'very well could be decided' against the Special Counsel."

Moss, an appointee of President Barack Obama, also noted two colleagues on the district court in Washington, Chief Judge Beryl Howell and Judge Dabney Friedrich, have rejected legal arguments regarding Mueller's appointment.

He wrote "Papadopoulos has not identified any extenuating circumstances -- nor is the Court aware of any -- that would overcome the presumption against granting such an eleventh-hour stay."

Besides the jail sentence, he was sentenced to a year of supervised release, 200 hours of community service and a $9,500 fine.

Papadopoulos worked as a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign starting in March 2016.

According to Mueller's team, Papadopoulos "lied to the FBI regarding his interactions with a foreign professor whom he understood to have significant ties to the Russian government, as well as a female Russian national."