Papadopoulos seeks immunity to testify before Senate Intelligence Committee
Former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos, whose outreach efforts to Russian officials made him a focus of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe, is seeking immunity before he agrees to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to congressional aides — despite having spoken with House lawmakers for seven hours behind closed doors Thursday.
Papadopoulos asked the Senate panel for immunity before he went to Capitol Hill on Thursday to discuss his involvement with the Trump campaign with members of the House Judiciary and Oversight and the Government Reform committees meeting jointly, according to a person familiar with the request. The Republican members of those panels were sympathetic to Papadopoulos’s claims that he was “set up” by the FBI, along with British and Australian officials, to create the appearance that Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign had had untoward dealings with Russia. Papadopoulos has not made public any evidence supporting his claim.
But after his House testimony, Papadopoulos did not drop his demand for immunity from the Senate Intelligence Committee, which rarely grants such requests and is unlikely to do so in this instance, given that Papadopoulos already spoke to other lawmakers without such a guarantee.
Witnesses usually seek immunity to avoid potential exposure to criminal prosecution for what they reveal in their statements. Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, and last month was sentenced to two weeks in prison on those charges. He has yet to serve his sentence. But Friday, Papadopoulos said on Fox News that he was “considering withdrawing” his guilty plea in Mueller’s probe, asserting that he “was framed” in the investigation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/papadopoulos-requests-immunity-to-testify-before-senate-intelligence-panel/2018/10/26/db3057e8-d959-11e8-a10f-b51546b10756_story.html
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