The wife of a former Trump campaign aide who is alleged to have set off a chain of events that started the Russia investigation wants her husband to pull out of his plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller ahead of his sentencing.
Simona Mangiante is married to George Papadopoulos, who the Department of Justice said got drunk in a London bar and told an Australian in 2016 the Russians possessed stolen Hillary Clinton emails. Papadopoulos was eventually questioned about the encounter and, according to the FBI, he initially lied to having contacts with Russians. He pled guilty to the charge of making false statements to the FBI in 2017.
Now his wife wants him to withdraw the plea and stop helping Mueller, who is investigating whether the Trump campaign had an improper relationship with the Russians.
"I trusted the institutions until they proved me wrong," Mangiante told MSNBC on Thursday.
She said there were "shady individuals targeting George with a specific agenda," and there is "exculpatory evidences that fully justify him to drop off his plea agreement."
Papadopoulos, whose LinkedIn page shows he is an independent oil, gas, and policy consultant, is due to be sentenced Sept. 7. He faces up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $9,500, but prosecutors said in the plea agreement he was cooperating in the investigation, which could lessen his sentence.
Content from Reuters was used in this report.
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