583

UPDATE: Augmented with this chapter below: “Contrary to What He’s now Saying, Papadopoulos Told Jason Wilson He DID Tell Jeff Sessions About Clinton’s Emails”

 

This contradicts many different lies of both Trump and Sessions-and others involved as well like Carter Page. Trump, of course, has dismissed Papadopoulous as the coffee boy and someone who he flat out doesn’t know even though Papadopoulos was a high ranking member of his foreign policy team. And at the time it wasn’t a very large team-there was Jeff Sessions himself and his deputy Jeff Gordon, there was Carter Page, there was Papadopoulos himself; though it’s arguable that Trump’s real foreign policy advisers were Michael Flynn and Erik Prince.

To be sure we’ve known since last November, when Papadopoulos pled that Trump, Papadopoulos, Sessions, Gordon-and Carter Page were all in the room on March 31, 2016-pictured above.

At that meeting, Papadopoulos had proposed a Trump-Putin meeting and Trump certainly hadn’t said no. 

To be sure, his defense seemed to be that somehow this proposal went right over his head despite sitting at the same table-he somehow didn’t hear Papadopoulos’ proposal. Jeff Sessions has had his own alternative fact-that he ‘pushed back’ on the meeting which is different than clearly rejecting it.

“Sessions, when asked about that meeting under oath, said that he “pushed back” on the idea of the Putin summit. CNN previously reported that Trump “heard him out,” according to another adviser in the room, when Papadopoulos proposed the idea and offered to help execute it.”

Papadopoulos’ testimony now makes Sessions a perjurer yet again.

“Convicted former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos has publicly contradicted Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ sworn testimony to Congress, saying both Sessions and Donald Trump apparently supported his proposal that Trump meet with Vladimir Putin during the 2016 campaign, according to a court filing late Friday night.”

“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. George’s giddiness over Mr. Trump’s recognition was prominent during the days that followed,” Papadopoulos’ lawyers wrote in a court filing Friday. Papadopoulos’ legal team said that he has shared with special counsel Robert Mueller his recollections of the March 31, 2016, meeting.”

So Sessions thought this was a great idea and Trump nodded at Sessions’ thought. He may be mad now that Sessions recused but back then he liked what he had so say about him meeting with Putin.

“The new description came in a criminal sentencing request Papadopoulos’ legal team filed to a federal judge late Friday night — the same day a lobbyist for Ukrainians admitted in court to criminal obstruction when he lied to Congress, and amid the President’s intensifying public feud with Sessions.”

That lobbyist would be Sam Patten who helped the Trump campaign get access to foreign cash. 

Note that Mueller charged Patten with lying to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Papadopoulos’ attorney calls him just the first domino that led to a lot of other-bigger-dominos-to fall behind. Back to CNN:

Papadopoulos “was the first domino, and many have fallen in behind,” his attorneys write Friday. “Despite the gravity of his offense, it is important to remember what Special Counsel said at George’s plea of guilty: he was just a small part of a large-scale investigation.”

Papadopoulos’ lawyer says he’s regretful and remorseful.

“Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to one count of lying to investigators last October. He asked the judge to sentence him to only probation that he has already served during the year since his plea, effectively allowing him to go free after his sentencing next week.”

“In a long narrative about his experiences, Papadopoulos’ attorneys attempt in the sentencing memo to portray Papadopoulos as a young and eager Trump campaign staffer who found himself unaware of the broad investigation into Russian interference in the election when he lied to the FBI last year.”

“Mr. Papadopoulos is ashamed and remorseful,” Papadopoulos’ attorneys wrote Friday. “His motives for lying to the FBI were wrongheaded indeed but far from the sinister spin the government suggests.”

UPDATE: Papadoupolos has made it very clear in subsequent words and tweets that he most certainly wasn’t ashamed and remorseful. He’s still acting like the same eager Trump campaign staffer wildly spinning counternarratives that claim the ‘real collusion’ was between Clinton, the Obama WH, Christopher Steele, and Alexander Downing.

In any case, Papadopoulos got into the specifics of what he proposed for the first time-and it is already getting incriminating for Trump-Sessions.

“Papadopoulos goes into specifics for the first time about how he floated the idea of a meeting between Trump and Putin at a campaign roundtable at the Trump International Hotel in March 2016. Donald Trump, then-Sen. Jeff Sessions and others attended the meeting.”

“About a month later, Papadopoulos learned that the Russians had “dirt” on Trump’s opposition, Hillary Clinton, in “thousands of emails.”

Papadopoulos’ lies to Muelller’s investigation were not harmless as they enabled his Russian professor, Joseph Mifsud-who told him of the ‘thousands of emails’ to escape-it turns out he was in Washington DC at the time.

“Prosecutors previously asked the judge to imprison Papadopoulos for up to six months, after he thwarted their early attempts to question a foreigner who may have known about Russian interference in the presidential campaign. The prosecutors’ sentencing request focused more on the repeated lies Papadopoulos told about his contact with foreigners when he spoke to the FBI last year, and less about his interactions inside the Trump campaign.”

“In the filing Friday, Papadopoulos’ lawyers lay out the image of an intellectually curious, successful and worldly man. They describe his scholarly work on energy policy in foreign countries and his interest in working for Trump in 2016.”

Papadopoulos had “no experience with US and Russian diplomacy” when he started with Trump’s campaign in 2016 — yet eventually became one of the future president’s foreign policy advisers.

In March that year, Papadopoulos met Joseph Mifsud, a European professor working in London who claimed to have connections to the Russian government, Papadopoulos’s lawyers said. “Professor Mifsud paid young George little attention until learning of his position as one of Trump’s foreign policy advisers,” they write.

UPDATE: In yet another ‘total coincidence’ in Watergate 2.0-both Russia Collusion and Comeygate Rogue Agent Collusion-Papadopoulos would later meet and then marry his wife Simona Mangiante-with neither of them realizing they had a connection through Mifsud-as she had worked for him back in the European Parliament-widely considered a clearing house for Russian spies.

UPDATE 2.0

It turns out it was not such a coincidence-on an interview the week after Bill Barr’s fake exoneration letter-Papadopoulos and his wife revealed to Ari Melber that in fact Mifsud was the reason they met; the Coffee Boy approached Ms. Mangiante to ask her what she knew about Mifsud. Again coincidences take a lot of planning.

End of UPDATE 2.0

The first time the FBI visited Papadopoulos he thought they wanted to discuss Sergery Millan-the alleged Source E of the Steele dossier.

“Papadopoulos’ defense team also describes the first time he spoke to the FBI, months before the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel. Papadopoulos thought the FBI agents who came to his mother’s house while he showered in early 2017 wanted to speak with him about Russian businessman Sergei Millian — then enmeshed in the Trump dossier news coverage, the filing says. Millian at one point had pitched Papadopoulos “an opportunity,” the lawyers write, giving few other details.”

“Media reports around that time identified Millian as a source of information in the dossier, though CNN has not confirmed his involvement nor many of the details in the dossier about alleged Trump-Russia collusion.”

“Millian has denied being a source for the dossier and says he does not have any compromising information about Trump.”

Papadopoulos also has information on Carter Page who was also in the foreign policy shop and with whom he exchanged many emails.

“Papadopoulos also spoke to the FBI investigators at that time about another foreign policy adviser for Trump with Russia connections, Carter Page, and about Mifsud and others.”

“Papadopoulos admits to lying to the FBI about his knowledge of the hacked Clinton emails.”

“Out of loyalty to the new president and his desire to be part of the administration, he hoisted himself upon his own petard,” Papadopoulos’ attorneys write.

One quite plausible explanation is that the campaign ultimately decided not to send Trump himself to meet Putin but they chose a cut out to take a trip-and that cut out would be Carter Page.

And now it’s time for-what else?-some analysis by Seth Abramson.

First of all it turns out that this was Papadopoulos’ dream job. But it got even better as he went on an immediate trip to Italy-where he met Mifsud.

FN: We still don’t yet know if Michael Cohen went to Prague-Mueller may know-but we know Cohen-like Papadopoulos went to Italy.

Regarding Cohen as I discuss in Chapter A I’ve now come to believe EmptyWheel was right-the Steele Dossier info about Cohen was largely Russian disinformation.

To think he’d just gotten his dream job and then went to Italy without the campaign’s sanction defies basic logic. It’s certainly a lot more plausible to believe that everything he did was sanctioned by the campaign.

Then Sam Clovis tells the alleged Coffee Boy that Russia was going to be a major focus of foreign policy.

Abramson asks: is it all a coincidence?

An opportunity to quote Nance’s Law: coincidences take a lot of planning.

But Papadopoulos’ dream kept getting better as when he proposed a Trump-Putin meeting, Sessions supported it and Trump nodded his head in agreement.

Of course, Trump had wanted to meet with Putin for many years-he was disappointed when they didn’t meet at the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013.  Abramson also notes the Millan connection that was mentioned above in the CNN article. Again coincidences take a lot of planning. 

There must have been a lot of planning behind Papadopoulos ending up precisely in that job for such an incredible coincidence.

Then there’s the question of the ‘thousands of emails.’

Abramson argues that Papadopoulos’ lawyer may be holding back on the emails for now-there’s likely a great deal more Papadopoulos has that he’s already told them.

 

 

Indeed coming out and saying his conduct was far less egregious certainly sounds like a gaffe.

“Papadopoulos is on track to be the second person sentenced in Mueller’s investigation. Earlier this year, Dutch attorney Alex Van Der Zwaan got one month in jail for lying during questioning by FBI agents and prosecutors involved in the probe. Papadopoulos’ lawyers say he deserves a more lenient sentence because “George’s criminal conduct was far less egregious.”

“The defense notes that Van Der Zwaan is an attorney and that his lies came later in the investigation, after Mueller was appointed and the scope of his inquiry became more clear.”

When he says Papadopoulos’ admittedly criminal conduct was much less egregious he’s referring to lying to the FBI rather than the conduct in the Trump campaign which at a minimum is an accessory to coordination with a hostile foreign power to interfere in an American election.

“Papadopoulos has acknowledged he got a heads-up about the emails from Professor Joseph Mifsud during a meeting in London in April 2016. However, in his initial conversation with the FBI he said he didn’t know anything about hacked emails until later in the year.”

“George lied, minimized, and omitted material facts. Out of loyalty to the new president and his desire to be part of the administration, he hoisted himself upon his own petard,” the attorneys wrote.

Hoisted himself on his own petard. That I like it’s an almost literary flourish.

In any case, Papadopoulos is a very important domino as he has such a bearing on the central question of the investigation-did the Trump campaign collude with the Russian government. If you understand that Papadopoulos did nothing without the campaign signing off this strongly suggests the answer is yes.

As for Abramson’s conjecture that the Coffee Boy told the Mueller team more than was publicly known at the time-the Mueller Report gave no indication of that. Of course there remain a lot of open questions about the Mueller investigation-James B. Stewart recent book raises the question of just how many punches Mueller had to pull stay on the right side of  Rod Rosenstein and make it over the finish line-and was Mueller actually cut short?

 

So this assertion doesn’t make sense-and it’s not what he told Jason Wilson at a Chicago bar in late March, 2018. Apparently the way to Papadopoulos’ honesty-is to get him drunk. But his  loose lips once he starts consuming alcohol is what got us here in the first place.

“At a London bar in May 2016, after numerous drinks, Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos bragged to an Australian diplomat the Russians had obtained damaging information on Hillary Clinton.”

And the rest is history-of the Russia investigation that is.

“The diplomat reported the conversation to American officials, which prompted the FBI to launch their investigation of the Trump campaign and its connections to Russia.”

And the same pattern emerged again when he had a few too many at a Chicago bar he was attending with his wife, Simone Mangiante-who’s a pretty suspicious character in her own right. 

Back to ThinkProgress:

“On Thursday at a Chicago nightclub, Papadopoulos had some drinks and, in a conversation with a new acquaintance, allegedly made new and explosive claims about Attorney General Jeff Sessions.”

“Papadopoulos, according to this new acquaintance, said that Sessions was well aware of the contact between Papadopoulos and Joseph Mifsud, an academic from Malta with high-level connections in Russia. Papadopoulos’ indictment revealed that Mifsud had told Papadopoulos that the Russians had “‘dirt’ on then-candidate Hillary Clinton in the form of ‘thousands of emails.’”

“Jason Wilson, a computer engineer who lives in Chicago, told ThinkProgress that Papadopoulos said during their conversation that “Sessions encouraged me” to find out anything he could about the hacked Hillary Clinton emails that Mifsud had mentioned.”

“In his lawyer’s memo, he’d stated that Sessions was enthusiastic about the idea of a Trump-Putin meeting-Sessions himself had claimed to have ‘pushed back’-but, of course, Sessions has perjured himself many times on these questions and ‘pushing back’ isn’t quite the same as categorically ruling it out. Pushing back might simply mean he warned them to use discretion if they do something like that rather than rejecting the idea out of hand.

In any case if what Jason Wilson says Papadopoulos told him is true, it’s a huge bombshell on a number of different levels. For one it demonstrates that Papadopoulos is lying about this as he’s lied about many things regarding Mifsud. Indeed, his initial lies to the FBI about when he joined the Trump campaign and Mifsud enabled the Russian professor time to escape the country-he was reportedly in Washington DC at the time.

If Papadopoulos told that to the Mueller probe that’s more perjury-though as Abramson suggests it, he may have told the FBI a lot more than his lawyer put in the memo-or what Papadopoulos has said in interviews subsequent to his very short 14 day sentence.

But the implications of it are huge. One if true, this means that Sessions lied yet again-he claimed not to know anything about hacked emails. But it gets worse. If Sessions knew about the emails and gave Papadopoulos approval then that’s the ballgame-the Trump campaign colluded. Or certainly was willing to collude-though Don Jr’s Trump ‘Tower meeting with the Russians in June, 2016 also showed that.

What’s not clear is which emails Mifsud was talking about-the DNC emails, the Podesta emails, or the emails from Clinton’s server? But if Sessions supported this idea then collusion becomes a very live possibility.

UPDATE: There are two questions-what emails did Mifsud mean  and what did the Coffee Boy think he did-Papaopoulos might well have thought it was Cinton’s server-the Trump campaign was obsessed with getting the mythical-what Comey would later refer to as the Golden Emails-Chapter  A.

Indeed, in his interviews, Papadopoulos was forced to admit that he didn’t tell the Trump campaign to the best of his knowledge. 

In other words, even he’s not ruling it out-he’s playing the same game of selective amnesia that Sessions has.

P.S. Senator Mark Warner ranking Democrat on Senate intel is skeptical Papadopoulos didn’t tell anyone in the campaign. 

“One thing is fairly clear: This is an ambitious guy who wants to be a player in the Trump campaign,” Warner said of Papadopoulos on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“Trump had chosen him as part of his foreign policy team,” Warner said. “It just stretches, I think, most people’s credibility that, if Papadopoulos had this knowledge and he wanted to try to further ingratiate himself with the campaign, that he wouldn’t have shared that with somebody on the campaign.”

It isn’t very plausible and, and according to Jason Wilson it’s not what the consequential Coffee Boy told him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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