Buckley has a lot to say about the deal in a recent piece at American Greatness, including this passage from the end:
So what did they get Papadopoulos for? The crime of talking to the feds without a lawyer at his side. They charged him with the crime of making a false statement about something which, had he told the truth, would not have been a crime. That’s how they nailed Martha Stewart, and that’s the crime to which Papadopoulos pled guilty. …
It stinks. And it especially stinks because everyone knows the only reason the feds bothered with him is that they’ll ask him to rat out someone higher up. They’ll tell him he can avoid jail time if he implicates Trump. We know that he lies when he doesn’t have a reason to do so. What do you think a liar will do under that kind of pressure?
Here was Papadopoulos’ real offense: He didn’t ask to see a lawyer before talking to the FBI. And, failing to do so, he didn’t say “to the best of my recollection” before he said anything to them. But his real offense was his assumption that the FBI was on his side, that he could talk freely to them if his conscience was clear. That’s criminal behavior when the FBI is so deeply politicized and willing to put whomever they want in jail.
And by the way, guess who the FBI director was when they shamefully prosecuted Martha Stewart? One Robert S. Mueller.
Read the whole thing!
