A US federal judge has rejected requests by George Papadopoulos to delay his 14-day prison sentence and ordered the former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser to report to prison as scheduled.
Papadopoulos, 31, had asked a federal judge twice in the past 10 days to pause his sentence but US District Court Judge Randolph Moss said in an order on Sunday that he had waited too long to contest his sentence, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Papadopoulos waited until the eleventh hour to seek relief; indeed, he did not file his second motion – the stay request — until the last business day before he was scheduled to surrender to serve his sentence,” Moss wrote. “He has only his own delay to blame.”
US authorities have Papadopoulos set to surrender at a correctional camp in the state of Wisconsin on Monday.
In October last year, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about his Russian contacts during the 2016 presidential campaign.
He gave up much of his rights to appeal under his plea agreement, which he cut with special counsel Robert Mueller’s office.
Mueller is looking into the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election and any potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow, among other matters that may arise from the investigation.
Papadopoulos was the first Trump campaign aide sentenced in Mueller’s investigation. The White House has claimed that Papadopoulos was a low-level volunteer on the campaign.
