Updated at 5:59 p.m. ET
The man whose case helped launch the sprawling investigation of Russian election interference that has engulfed the White House was sentenced to 14 days in prison on Friday.
George Papadopoulos, 31, pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI to conceal his contacts with Russians and Russian intermediaries during the presidential campaign.
A federal judge also sentenced Papadopoulos to one year of supervised release and imposed a fine of $9,500.
The operatives whom Papadopoulos met offered him "dirt" on Hillary Clinton and "off-the-record" meetings in overtures he discussed with leaders of Donald Trump's campaign.
His lawyers say Papadopoulous acted out of a "misguided sense of loyalty to his master" and to preserve his career options in the new administration.
Prosecutors working for Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller said Papadopoulos undermined their investigation and deprived them of a chance to ask a professor of diplomacy based in London how he knew Russians had obtained the "dirt" on Trump's rival, Hillary Clinton, in the form of thousands of emails.
The Russian outreach to Papadopoulos was part of a sweeping active measures campaign aimed at the United States and also included overtures toward other political operatives, cyberattacks and agitation on social media.
In requesting that Papadopoulos serve some prison time, government lawyers said he and his wife had participated in media interviews riddled with misstatements.
Far from cooperating to energize the special counsel probe, prosecutors Jeannie Rhee, Andrew Goldstein and Aaron Zelinsky argued, Papadopoulos and his wife gave life to a false narrative about them and the seriousness of his offense.
More than a "coffee boy"
Papadopoulos was once described as a "coffee boy" to the Trump campaign. But he attended foreign policy meetings with candidate Trump and then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, among others.
His lawyers said that Papadopoulos had suggested brokering a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2016 and that Trump "nodded with approval," according to a court filing last month.
Defense lawyers Thomas Breen, Todd Pugh and Robert Stanley argued that the young energy consultant was merely "out of his depth" in dealing with the Russian operatives.
Trump appeared to respond to the sentencing on Friday with a Twitter post that repeated his argument that the Russia investigation is groundless.
The London connection
The FBI began investigating Russian's election interference after getting a tip that Papadopoulos had dished about his Russian connections to an Australian diplomat during a night of heavy drinking.
The Australian notified his government, which notified the United States.
That sparked a counterintelligence investigation that has became the ongoing effort led by former FBI Director Mueller to get to the bottom of Russia's attack on the 2016 election — and whether any Americans conspired with those efforts.
Papadopoulos was the key to discovering that, the government says.
"His arrest and prosecution served as a notice to all that this was a serious investigation," defense lawyers wrote. "He was the first domino, and many have fallen in behind."
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