Former Trump Campaign Adviser George Papadopolous Pleads Guilty To Lying To FBI
Remember back during the election when throngs of Trump supporters would shout "Lock her up! Lock her up!" when word broke out she used a private email server for official government emails? Remember when key members of his administration, then, after being elected, went on to do the same exact thing and none of his supporters cried foul and kept entirely quiet about it?
Well private email servers seem to be the least of Trump's worries right now, because members of his administration and people who helped get him elected are being either investigated or indicted, like Paul Manafort.
Now, Trump's former campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, has just plead guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his interactions with foreign officials, which many see as one of the closest possible connections between Russia and the election.
The former staffer claimed he didn't know the professor who promised "dirt" on Hillary Clinton during the election was connected to the Russian government - which he admits was a lie. Papadopoulos also lied about the timing of his contact with the Russian contact with the "thousands of emails" containing damaging information on the Democratic candidate.
Papadopoulos says he thought that by obtaining the intel from the Russians and helping another country interfere with the election would curry him favor with Trump and make him a vital part of his campaign. But that's not the worst part: the court document issued by the FBI indicates that Papadopoulos was in communication with other members of Trump's campaign about arranging a meeting with Trump and the Russian government.
(Paul Manafort, pictured above, leaving the US District Court after he plead not guilty to indictment charges where he was charged with funneling millions of dollars through foreign shell companies)
The FBI court document regarding Papadopoulos states that Trump's former adviser was introduced by the Russian professor to a woman who who claimed she was a "relative of Russian President Vladimir Putin with connections to senior Russian government officials." This was before Papadopoulos was also introduced to a member of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The court documents from the cases both against Manafort and Papadopoulos don't present any direct connections to Trump, just members of his staff and campaign, a fact that Trump's current administration is clinging to. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Papadopoulos' role was a mere "volunteer position," and the he simply "reached out" to Russian officials and there was "nothing beyond that."
The FBI's findings, however, suggest otherwise. Papadopoulos had reportedly told Trump along with other campaign officials that he could arrange a meeting between Donald and Putin - something that was discussed many times through consistent back-and-forth between the adviser, his Russian contacts, and Trump's campaign.
All of the news of Trump's team members giving themselves up to the FBI has visibly perturbed Trump on Twitter. He's gone on one of his recent Twitter tirades, that ended in this tweet:
Mueller and the FBI's investigation will be the judge of that, but it doesn't look good, considering Trump's storied relationship with Russia. (h/t independent)
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