Ex-Trump aide, Chicagoan George Papadopoulos faces sentencing in lying case

WASHINGTON (WLS) -- If it goes as scheduled, by Friday night George Papadopoulos will have been handed his sentence-and it could be up to five years in federal prison.

The former Trump campaign aide will travel from Chicago with several family members to face a federal judge, the I-Team has learned.

Papadopoulos, 31, had a seat at the table with Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign.

The young foreign policy expert, a DePaul University graduate, tried to engineer a meeting between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. Then Papadopoulos lied to federal agents during questioning about a meeting and about the timing of his interactions with Russian contacts.

That is the charge he has admitted and will be sentenced for at DC's district courthouse, Friday at 2pm Central Time.

Former federal prosecutor and ABC7 legal analyst Gil Soffer said that Papadopoulos has already admitted his guilt as part of a his deal with prosecutors.

"When the defendant is standing before the court the judge asks a series of questions that is a part of every plea agreement," Soffer said. "Do you understand what you're doing? Do you understand that you're giving up this right? Do you understand you're giving up that right? So they went through that process."

Although George Papadopoulos is the felon, his defense has become a family affair. Two weeks ago Papadopoulos, his mother and newlywed wife spotted by the I-Team heading into a meeting with Chicago defense attorney Tom Breen.

All are expected in DC on Friday when District Judge Randolph Moss determines the sentence. The hearing will take place less than two miles from the White House. Special counsel Robert Mueller is asking for jail time-up to six months. Papadopoulos wants probation. His newlywed wife Simona, who has become her husband's principal spokesperson in recent months-was pushing for court mercy or a presidential pardon.

"The only thing he tried to do is set up meeting between Putin and Trump," she told the I-Team in an interview in June. "Now, is that illegal? No, I don't think so. He was a foreign policy advisor."

Simona Papadopoulos had been trying to talk her new husband into scrapping his plea deal and rolling the dice on a trial.

She now says George Papadopoulos will admit "inaccuracies" in his statements to federal agents at the Friday sentencing.