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WASHINGTON, U.S. – In a court filing made as part of his probe into Russia interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, Special Counsel Robert Mueller has recommended that a judge sentence George Papadopoulos to up to six months in prison for lying to investigators.

In October last year, the former campaign foreign policy adviser for the U.S. President Donald Trump, George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about him attempting to organize meetings between the campaign staff and Russians.

Papadopoulos, who is scheduled to be sentenced on September 7, could now be facing jail time as Mueller has reportedly recommended in a memorandum to the judge in the case, “The government does not take a position with respect to a particular sentence to be imposed, but respectfully submits that a sentence of incarceration, within the applicable guidelines range of zero to six months imprisonment is appropriate and warranted.”

Further, Muller has pointed out in the filing that Papadopoulos repeatedly lied about his contacts with alleged Russian go-betweens and “caused damage” to the government’s inquiry.

The Special Counsel also pointed out that Papadopoulos misled investigators about the “timing, extent and nature” of the meetings. 

Adding that during one of these meetings, Papadopoulos was told that Russia had damaging information about Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.”

Mueller explained that Papadopoulos’s attempts to mislead the FBI had a significant effect on the open investigation into whether Trump or his advisers coordinated with Russia’s attempts to disrupt the 2016 presidential election.

Mueller wrote in the memo, “The defendant lied in order to conceal his contacts with Russians and Russian intermediaries during the campaign.”

Adding, it happened early in the investigation “when key investigative decisions, including who to interview and when, were being made.”

Pointing to one specific case, the memo noted that during a January 2017 interview with the FBI, Papadopoulos misled agents about his conversations with Joseph Mifsud, a London-based professor who investigators believe reached out to Papadopoulos on behalf of the Russian government.

Mueller’s team wrote in the court filing, “The defendant’s lies undermined investigators’ ability to challenge the professor or potentially detain or arrest him while he was still in the United States. The government understands that the professor left the United States on Feb. 11, 2017, and he has not returned to the United States since then.”

In response to Mueller’s court filing, Papadopoulos’ lawyers, Thomas Breen and Robert Stanley, said in a statement that they were “not able to comment on the government’s sentencing submission at this time.”