Former Senate intel staffer sentenced to two months in prison for lying to FBI

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson also fined Wolfe $7,500. She is allowing him to self-surrender to prison and will recommend minimum security in Cumberland, Maryland.

"It saddens me to stand here before you today. ... I'm not sure it's possible to feel any lower than I do right at this moment," Wolfe said in court before he was sentenced. "I am sorry. I am beyond embarrassed. I am beyond humiliated. I am beyond mortified."

Wolfe had been arrested and indicted this summer for lying to the FBI about media contacts during an investigation into unlawful disclosure of classified information. After Wolfe's arrest, President Donald Trump claimed that law enforcement had "caught a leaker."

The prospect of a high-profile trial after Wolfe's arrest raised eyebrows, and CNN reported, citing Senate sources, that the longtime staffer had reached out privately to senators for their help. But the guilty plea ultimately staved off the possibility of testimony or even subpoenas for journalists, lawmakers and Capitol Hill staffers.

The case also sparked a debate about the press and the extent to which the government was willing to go in its leak investigations.

The New York Times reported at the time of Wolfe's indictment that federal authorities had seized phone and email records from reporter Ali Watkins, who had previously been in a relationship with Wolfe.

Prosecutors earlier this month called for Wolfe to receive a two-year sentence and said his "conduct significantly impacted the national security."

Wolfe's attorneys requested no prison time and suggested probation and community service instead. In support of his request for no prison time, they submitted letters of support from the leadership of the Senate Intelligence Committee as well as former top officials, including former President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Denis McDonough, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Wolfe's attorneys also compared his request for no prison time to lenient sentences received by defendants in the special counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller, including Alex van der Zwaan and George Papadopoulos.

Let's block ads! (Why?)