Although Clovis claimed to have no recollection of attending the TAG summit,483 Papadopoulos remembered discussing Russia and a foreign policy trip with Clovis and Phares during the event.484 Papadopoulos's recollection is consistent with emails sent before and after the TAG summit. The pre-summit messages included a July 11, 2016 email in which Phares suggested meeting Papadopoulos the day after the summit to chat,485 and a July 12 message in the same chain in which Phares advised Papadopoulos that other summit attendees "are very nervous about Russia. So be aware."486 Ten days after the summit, Papadopoulos sent an email to Mifsud listing Phares and Clovis as other "participants" in a potential meeting at the London Academy of Diplomacy.487
Finally, Papadopoulos's recollection is also consistent with handwritten notes from a journal that he kept at the time.488 Those notes, which are reprinted in part below, appear to refer to potential September 2016 meetings in London with representatives of the "office of Putin," and suggest that Phares, Clovis, and Papadopoulos ("Walid/Sam me") would attend without the official backing of the Campaign ("no official letter/no message from Trump").489
No official anything to connect meetings with Russians to the campaign, but, the campaign members were looking forward to those exact meetings. That is a conspiracy.
Footnote 483 Grand Jury
Footnote 484 Papadopoulos 9/19/17 302, at 16-17.
Footnote 485 7 /11/16 Email, Phares to Papadopoulos.
Footnote 486 7/12/16 Email, Phares to Papadopoulos (14:52:29).
Footnote 487 7/27/16 Email, Papadopoulos to Mifsud (14:14:18).
Footnote 488 Papadopoulos 9/20/17 302, at 3.
Footnote 489 Papadopoulos declined to assist in deciphering his notes, telling investigators that he could not read his own handwriting from the journal. Papadopoulos 9/19/17 302, at 21. The notes, however, appear to read as listed in the column to the left of the image above.
Later communications indicate that Clovis determined that he (Clovis) could not travel. On August 15, 2016, Papadopoulos emailed Clovis that he had received requests from multiple foreign governments, "even Russia[]," for "closed door workshops/consultations abroad," and asked whether there was still interest for Clovis, Phares, and Papadopoulos "to go on that trip."490 Clovis copied Phares on his response, which said that he could not "travel before the election" but that he "would encourage [Papadopoulos] and Walid to make the trips, if it is feasible."491
Footnote 490 8/15/16 Email, Papadopoulos to Clovis (11 :59:07 a.m.).
Footnote 491 8/15/16 Email, Clovis to Papadopoulos (12:01 :45 p.m.)
The issue is never that we don't meet with Russia, it is just that it is not a good idea this close to the election.
Papadopoulos was dismissed from the Trump Campaign in early October 2016, after an interview he gave to the Russian news agency Interfax generated adverse publicity.492
"Interfax" is considered a privately owned news agency.
Interfax Group (click here) is a leading provider of critical information on Russia, China and emerging markets of Eurasia, serving the diverse needs of investors, corporations, financial professionals and the media. Interfax provides about 100 specialized information services, supplying weekly and daily intelligence reports with industry analysis, business information, real-time news, market data and ratings and credit reports. The leader in the CIS, the Interfax Group has a global operational network, with over 1000 staff daily turning out over 3000 stories from over 70 bureaus worldwide.
The campaign dismissed Papadopoulos because he was "too hot" with controversy, not that he wasn't doing his job.
September 30, 2016
George Papadopoulos: Sanctions have done little more than to turn Russia towards China (click here)
George Papadopoulos has been one of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump‘s foreign political advisors since March 2016. Prior to this, he was an advisor to Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon and Republican Party member who dropped out of the presidential race. Papadopoulos previously worked for various research institutes dealing with global politics. His sphere of interest is global energy. Papadopoulos has given an interview to Interfax‘s correspondent Ksenia Baygarova in which he discusses his views on U.S.-Russia relations, the Syrian crisis, NATO expansion and the dependence of the EU on Russian energy. Papadopoulos noted that his opinion does not necessarily coincide with that of Trump.
Question: Many people in Russia think that if Donald Trump becomes U.S. president, the U.S.-Russia relations would significantly improve. Do you think these expectations are realistic?
Answer: Mr. Trump has been open about his willingness to usher in a new chapter in U.S.-Russia ties. However, this depends on Russia acting as a responsible stake holder in the international system. U.S.-Russian relations have reached a nadir under the Obama administration and the Clinton led state department when she was in office. Based on the low level of trust between both countries currently, and a military conflict seemingly on the horizon over the Baltics, Ukraine and even in Syria, it is in the interest of the U.S, NATO and Russia to deescalate hostilities immediately and work together towards combating common threats. This threat is principally Islamism and its violent expression, jihadism that has reverberated throughout North Africa and the Middle East post ‘Arab Spring‘.....
f. Trump Campaign Knowledge of "Dirt"
Papadopoulos admitted telling at least one individual outside of the Campaign specifically, the then-Greek foreign minister-about Russia's obtaining Clinton-related emails.
September 12, 2019 (click here)
Washington, DC – George Papadopoulos, who had served as a foreign policy advisor for Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, had also told Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias (at the end of May 2016) that a mysterious Russian professor had revealed that the Russians had Hillary Clinton’s emails in their possession.
This claim was made by Papadopoulos during an interview on September 9 with Greek American journalist, George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week, as well as on a CNN broadcast on September 7. As it turns out, this disclosure had been made by his lawyers and in the memorandum they filed a week before in court.
Papadopoulos, however, claims he does not remember informing anyone in Donald Trump’s campaign about the information provided by Professor Joseph Mifsud.
He doesn't remember just like he can't read his own handwriting.
On This Week, Papadopoulos did not mention Kotzias by name, but referred to him as the “Greek Foreign Minister,” admitting he told him about Hillary Clinton’s emails allegedly held by the Russians and though he met with Australian diplomat Alexander Downer in London he could not recollect sharing the information about the emails with Downer. The Australian diplomat’s name is not included in the memorandum filed by Papadopoulos’ lawyers....
493 In addition, a different foreign government informed the FBI (Probably the Brits. It had to be an ally that was monitoring activity between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.) that, 10 days after meeting with Mifsud in late April 2016, Papadopoulos suggested 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 Hillary Clinton.494 (This conversation occurred after the GRU spearphished Clinton Campaign chairman John Podesta and stole his emails, and the GRU hacked into the DCCC and DNC, see Volume l, Sections III.A & III.B, supra.) Such disclosures raised questions about whether Papadopoulos informed any Trump Campaign official about the emails.
When interviewed, Papadopoulos and the Campaign officials who interacted with him told the Office that they could not recall (So, no one said no, they just could not recall while another government reported their activities.) Papadopoulos's sharing the information that Russia had obtained "dirt" on candidate Clinton in the form of emails or that Russia could assist the Campaign through the anonymous release of information about Clinton. Papadopoulos stated that he could not clearly recall having told anyone on the Campaign and wavered about whether he accurately remembered an incident in which Clovis had been upset after hearing Papadopoulos tell Clovis that Papadopoulos thought "they have her emails."495 The Campaign officials who interacted or corresponded with Papadopoulos have similarly stated, with varying degrees of certainty, that he did not tell them. Senior policy advisor Stephen Miller, for example, did not remember hearing anything from Papadopoulos or Clovis about Russia having emails of or dirt on candidate Clinton.496 Clovis stated that he did not recall anyone, including Papadopoulos, having given him non-public information that a foreign government mi ht be in possession of material damaging to Hillary Clinton. 497
Grand Jury 498, 499
No documentary evidence, and nothing in the email accounts or other communications facilities reviewed by the Office, shows that Papadopoulos shared this information with the Campaign.
Clovis, Miller and Papadopolous were campaign members. I guess the Special Counsel felt there was to much circumstantial evidence or something when it came to the core of the campaign. However, it is well understood, Trump frequently is untouchable when it comes to legal matters, Cohen is a prime example. It wasn't until the last couple of days did the country know Trump was in the middle of the Hush Money payments.
Footnote 492 George Papadopoulos: Sanctions Have Done Little More Than to Turn Russia Towards China, Interfax (Sept. 30, 2016).
Footnote 493 Papadopoulos 9/19/17 302, at 14-15; Def. Sent. Mem., United States v. George Papadopoulos, I :17-cr-182 (click here) (D.D.C. Aug. 31, 2018), Doc. 45.
Jul 15, 2019
MINUTE ORDER as to GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS (1): Upon consideration of Defendant's motion for release of his passports 65, it is hereby ORDERED that the motion is GRANTED. Pre-trial services is hereby directed to release Defendant's passports to him. It is further ORDERED that Defendant shall return his passports to pre-trial services upon his return, on or before August 6, 2019. Signed by Judge Randolph D. Moss on 7/15/2019. (lcrdm3, )
Footnote 494 See footnote 465 of Volume I, Section IV.A.2.d, supra.
Footnote 495 Papadopoulos 8/10/17 302, at 5; Papadopoulos 8/11 /17 302, at 5; Papadopoulos 9/20/17 302, at 2.
Footnote 496 S. Miller 12/14/17 302, at 10.
Footnote 497 Grand Jury
Footnote 498 Grand Jury
Footnote 499 Grand Jury
continue d in next entry
