George Papadopoulos is portrayed in the media as a low level campaign staffer. Can't prove it by the Special Counsel investigation. There is a lot here for a low level staffer.
George Papadopoulos, (click here) left, pleaded guilty earlier this month to lying to FBI agents about a series of meetings he took and planned while he was a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign.
George Papadopoulos was a foreign policy advisor to the Trump Campaign from March 2016 to early October 2016.394 In late April 2016, Papadopoulos was told by London-based professor Joseph Mifsud, immediately after Mifsud's return from a trip to Moscow, that the Russian government had obtained "dirt" on candidate Clinton in the form of thousands of emails. One week later, on May 6, 2016, Papadopoulos suggested to a representative of a foreign government that the Trump Campaign had received indications from the Russian government that it could assist the Campaign through the anonymous release of information that would be damaging to candidate Clinton.
That is not a minor staffer. He has high level information. He might be an odd guy in some ways in a social context, but, he had high level information.
August 29. 2018
By John Solomon
...European professor Joseph Mifsud. (click here)
Documents I obtained from sources show Mifsud told the FBI in February 2017 that his contacts with Papadopoulos a year earlier, during the 2016 presidential campaign, were mostly innocuous. He made that point both in an FBI interview and a follow-up email to agents.
He described the contacts as an academic exercise in pursuit of peace, not a global plot to hijack the election. And he went out of his way to say there was no talk of sinister cybersecurity intentions such as a plot to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails.
“I reaffirm that the content of our conversations was always on wide geo-strategic issues,” he wrote FBI agents on Feb. 11, in an email that was quickly sent to the very top of the FBI’s counterintelligence division. Mifsud sent the email just hours after agents interviewed him.
He said the conversations mostly centered around “how the Trump then-campaign team looked to develop a conversation on Europe/UK … and with Russia” and “the fallout in policy in the deteriorating relationship between the major countries in the world today.”...
The only thing that seems to be consistent is that conversations between Papadopoulos and Mifsud took place AFTER Mifsud returned from Russia. What can't be dismissed is that Russia was instrumental in electing Donald J. Trump through the activities of the Russian IRA and GRU. It doesn't matter that the FBI did a great job of chasing these Russian agencies and obtaining information from their own computers, these agencies actually were actively involved in electing Donald J. Trump beginning in 2014. So, on balance, the statements by Papadopoulos can't be dismissed.
Papadopoulos shared information about Russian "dirt" with people outside of the Campaign, and the Office investigated whether he also provided it to a Campaign official. Papadopoulos and the Campaign officials with whom he interacted told the Office that they did not recall that Papadopoulos passed them the information. Throughout the relevant period of time and for several months thereafter, Papadopoulos worked with Mifsud and two Russian nationals to arrange a meeting between the Campaign and the Russian government. That meeting never came to pass.
Does anyone actually believe Papadopoulos never provided the Trump campaign with information from Mifsud and two Russian nationals after spending campaign monies on travel to Europe with a continued relationship for several months to set up a meeting? I might point out eventually there was a meeting.
I have to remind that there is a somewhat abnormal dynamic playing out with these guys; they don't trust each other. I am confident they dismiss a lot of activity that actually occurs to protect themselves. That dynamic can't be dismissed as "at work" realizing that a meeting did take place and Russia was instrumental in the election. Russia was not blinking an eye, it was the members of the campaign that was getting nervous.
Papadopoulos is a son of Greek immigrants, was raised in the USA, graduated from high school, went to college and graduate school in Europe. He is fluent in four languages including Greek (which is no surprise because of his parents), French and Arabic, like that spoken and written by those in Saudi Arabia.
a. Origins of Campaign Work
In March 2016, Papadopoulos became a foreign policy advisor to the Trump Campaign.395 As early as the summer of 2015, he had sought a role as a policy advisor to the Campaign but, in a September 30, 2015 email, he was told that the Campaign was not hiring policy advisors.396 In late 2015, Papadopoulos obtained a paid position on the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson. 397
Although Carson remained in the presidential race until early March 20I6, Papadopoulos had stopped actively working for his campaign by early February 2016.398 At that time, Papadopoulos reached out to a contact at the London Centre of International Law Practice (LCILP), which billed itself as a "unique institution . . . comprising high-level professional international law practitioners, dedicated to the advancement of global legal knowledge and the practice of international law."399 Papadopoulos said that he had finished his role with the Carson campaign and asked if LCILP was hiring.400 In early February, Papadopoulos agreed to join LCILP and arrived in London to begin work.401
There is every reason to believe Papadopoulos had European contacts within academia.
Footnote 394 Papadopoulos met with our Office for debriefings on several occasions in the summer and fall of 2017, after he was arrested and charged in a sealed criminal complaint with making false statements in a January 2017 FBI interview about, inter alia, the timing, extent, and nature of his interactions and communications with Joseph Mifsud and two Russian nationals:
and
Ivan Timofeev (click here) has been a Director of Programs at the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) since 2011. RIAC member since 2016. He is responsible for the intellectual performance of RIAC, managing its programs and projects. His personal background at RIAC includes working with Russian and foreign diplomats, governmental officials, experts, businessmen and NGO-leaders regarding Russia’s foreign policy and public diplomacy...
November 11, 2017
By Chuck Ross
One of the last remaining mysteries (click here) from a court filing against former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos has been solved, and it raises numerous questions about a top White House adviser.
Stephen Miller, a former Senate aide to Jeff Sessions, was identified Friday night by The New York Times as the “senior policy advisor” referenced in a statement of offense released this month by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in a case involving Papadopoulos, an energy consultant who pleaded guilty last month to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians.
The Mueller document cited emails that Papadopoulos sent to the “senior policy advisor” in April 2016, one regarding a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump and another that referred to “interesting messages” that Papadopoulos had received “from Moscow.”
“The Russian government has an open invitation by Putin for Mr. Trump to meet him when he is ready,” Papaopoulos wrote to Miller in an April 25 message....
But, that is true. It took a while for Trump and Putin to finally hunker down for hours with a one and one in Helsinki, but, it finally happened at least once in his presidency. Cohen was invited to a Russian gathering of leaders that ultimately the Russians wanted Trump to attend. There is no doubt Putin was more than willing to meet with Trump.
Papadopoulos later pleaded guilty, pursuant to a plea agreement, to an information charging him with making false statements to the FBI, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § lO0l(a).
(a) Except as otherwise provided (click here) in this section, whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully—
Footnote 395 A Transcript of Donald Trump's Meeting with the Washington Post Editorial Board,Washington Post (Mar. 21, 2016). (click here)
Footnote 396 7/15/15 Linkedln Message, Papadopoulos to Lewandowski (6:57 a.m.); 9/30/15 Email, Glassner to Papadopoulos (7:42:21 a.m.).
Footnote 397 Papadopoulos 8/10/17 302, at 2.
Footnote 398 Papadopoulos 8/10/17 302, at 2; 2/4/16 Email, Papadopoulos to Idris.
Footnote 399 London Centre of International Law Practice, at https://www.lcilp.org/ (via web.archive.org).
Footnote 400 2/4/16 Email, Papadopoulos to Idris.
Footntoe 401 2/5/16 Email, Idris to Papadopoulos (6:11:25 p.m.); 2/6/16 Email, Idris to Papadopoulos (5:34:15 p.m.).
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