MEANWHILE, IN REALITY...:

Friday's hearing took a dramatic and unexpected turn when Papadopoulos' attorney, Thomas Breen, lit into Trump, arguing that the president himself was more culpable than his client.

Trump, Breen said, "hindered this investigation more than George Papadopoulos ever could," by calling the FBI's Russia inquiry a "witch hunt" and casting doubt on credible allegations of wrongdoing by his associates.

"The president of the United States, the commander in chief, told the world that this was fake news," Breen said, contrasting this with Mueller's "professional" and "well-prepared" team. [...]

Breen's confrontational approach toward Trump in the courtroom on Friday was sharply at odds with public efforts in recent weeks by Papadopoulos' wife to argue that Papadopoulos was the victim of a set-up involving U.S. intelligence and the FBI. Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos, who was in court with her husband on Friday, has accused the FBI of using confidential informants to bait her husband into incriminating the Trump campaign.

Mangiante Papadopoulos also did TV interviews seeking a pardon for her husband, and publicly appealed for new lawyers to try to withdraw her husband's guilty plea.

But George Papadopoulos' lawyers made no effort Friday to point fingers at Mueller's office or the FBI. In fact, they flatly rejected any suggestion of impropriety by the prosecution.

"Our firm would in a second stand up if we saw prosecutorial or governmental misconduct. We have seen no such thing," Breen said in response to a question from POLITICO at a brief news conference after the sentencing. "We have seen no entrapment. We have seen no set-up by U.S. intelligence people. ... Everything we saw, they've been on the square." [...]

During the court hearing Friday, Breen was tough on his own client, but also sought to stress his youth and inexperience. He called Papadopoulos "naive" and "a fool."

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