In a late-night court filing on Friday, lawyers for former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos publicly contradicted Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s sworn testimony to Congress that neither he nor candidate Donald Trump supported his March 2016 proposal to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “While some in the room rebuffed George’s offer, Mr. Trump nodded with approval and deferred to Mr. Sessions who appeared to like the idea and stated that the campaign should look into it,” the filing states. “George’s giddiness over Mr. Trump’s recognition was prominent during the days that followed.”

The claim could create additional legal headaches for the president and his attorney general. When Sessions was asked about the meeting last year, he claimed that he “pushed back” on the proposal. If Trump did indeed indicate his assent, as Papadopoulos’s filing suggests, it could provide additional ammo to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, as well as the president’s alleged efforts to obstruct the probe. Attorneys for Papadopoulos reportedly said on Friday that their client had already shared his recollections of the meeting with Mueller.

Papadopoulos was hired to the Trump campaign in March 2016. As part of his plea deal, he admitted to communicating with a mysterious professor in the U.K. who traveled in diplomatic circles and claimed that Russia had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. To prove his worth to the campaign, and fueled by this new knowledge and new Russian-connected contacts, Papadopoulos subsequently offered to broker a meeting between Trump and Putin. “Out of loyalty to the new president and his desire to be part of the administration, he hoisted himself upon his own petard,” Papadopoulos’s lawyers said, acknowledging that he had “lied, minimized, and omitted material facts” to the F.B.I. about the extent of his foreign contacts.

Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty last year to one count of lying to F.B.I. investigators regarding his contacts with Russian officials, is seeking leniency in sentencing. His lawyers are asking for him to receive the probation that he has already served in the year since his plea last October. Mueller’s team has suggested Papadopoulos serve a custodial six-month sentence, claiming his lies impeded their investigation.