The July arrest of George Papadopoulos, President Donald Trump's former campaign foreign policy adviser, appeared to be the result of a last-minute scramble by special counsel Robert Mueller's team, Politico is reporting.
Papadopoulos was arrested at Dulles Airport on July 27 after arriving from Munich. There was no warrant for him, no indictment or criminal complaint, the website noted. A complaint was filed the next morning, according to Politico.
Once the complaint was filed, prosecutors obtained a verbal order from District Court Judge Beryl Howell to seal it. But they followed up with a written request that they could show a magistrate in Virginia the following day for an arraignment hearing.
At the hearing, Papadopoulos was not represented by a defense attorney, the website noted.
"That's odd," former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Cramer said. "You would not normally have a defendant appearing before the court not be represented. The court wasn't concerned with it but that was strange."
And during the court proceeding, the Mueller's team of prosecutors did not seek Papadopoulos' detention.
In October, Papadopoulos entered a guilty plea to a false statement charge. As a result, prosecutors dropped a more serious obstruction count, Politico reported.
In a statement of facts, prosecutors and defense attorneys said he has cooperated.
"Following his arrest, defendant Papadopoulos met with the Government on numerous occasions to provide information and answer questions," the statement said.
And Cramer added: "That's pretty consistent with if you want to send him back in or use him. If you're picking someone up and want to send them back into their organization, if people know he's been arrested they're going to run away from this guy . . . It also shows you're serious. That's going to show this isn't a game"
A lawyer for Papadopoulos did not respond to a request for comment, Politico noted. And a spokesman for Mueller's office would not comment.
Ironically, in the days leading up to his arrest, Papadopoulos had questioned whether he should run for Congress, the Washington Examiner reported.
"Congressional run: thoughts," Papadopoulos wrote on LinkedIn in early July, according to the Examiner.
The post now appears to have been deleted.
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