1/ Some are concluding that because Mueller has commenced the sentencing process for Papadopoulos, that means he will not be a witness in future proceedings. politico.com/story/2018/05/…. I don't think that is necessarily correct.
2/ It is true that ordinarily, federal prosecutors delay the sentencing of cooperating witnesses until after their cooperation is complete, including testimony in all other cases. However, this case is different.
3/ Papadopoulos pled guilty to 18 USC 1001 with a very low sentencing guideline range. After the plea, he is at level 4, which is 0-6 months, even without any credit for cooperation. justsecurity.org/wp-content/upl…
4/ Even without cooperation credit, he is virtually assured a no jail sentence. So in this case, the sentence is not what gives Mueller leverage over Papadopoulos. In fact, plea agreement does not even require Papadopoulos to cooperate and testify.
5/ It says only that government will bring cooperation to the attention of the judge and defendant agrees to delays in sentencing to complete cooperation. So going forward the leverage Mueller has over Papadopoulos is not the sentence hanging over his head.
6/ Instead, leverage is that Papadopoulos has no doubt testified fully in the grand jury and so if he testifies differently in the future, he could be prosecuted for perjury. If he refuses to testify, he could be jailed for contempt.
7/ Because the leverage likely comes from being locked into the grand jury and not from the sentence, it doesn't matter if he is sentenced now. And because sentence so low, Papadopoulos lawyer has good argument that client should be allowed to be sentenced and move on.
8/ Therefore, I would not necessarily conclude that because Papadopoulos's sentencing is moving forward, that means he won't be a witness.
9/ Moreover, even if you conclude that Papadopoulos will not be a witness, that says nothing about Mueller's investigation or where it's headed. Maybe Papadopoulos didn't pan out, or maybe he led prosecutors to better, independent evidence that made his testimony unnecessary.
10/ In sum, don't read anything into Papadopoulos's sentencing either with respect to whether he will be a witness in the future, or what that means for the Mueller investigation. End.
