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The Intelligence Committee in the GOP House recently ended the Russia probe despite not having spoken to many material witnesses-Manafort, Flynn, and at the top of the list, George Papadopoulos. And yet the GOP with a straight face claims that they saw no evidence of collusion. As they didn’t speak to Papadopoulos, they clearly didn’t even look.
Indeed, even among those the GOP did interview they didn’t really investigate collusion beyond asking witnesses ‘Did you collude’ and when they said no, the GOP concluded ‘Well, there you go-there was no collusion.’
As we saw in a previous chapter, Mike Conaway-who allegedly took over the investigation for the allegedly recused Devin Niunes-claimed that they didn’t bother to interview Papadopoulos because he was ‘at the edge’ of the Trump campaign. Ok-Don Segretti was ‘at the edge’ of Richard Nixon’s 1972 campaign but he still engaged in illegal activities, in election conspiracy on Nixon’s behald. And Conaway sort of undercut his own argument by then saying they didn’t interview Papadopoulos and other material witnesses so as not to get in Mueller’s way.
In any case, the argument that Papadopoulos was just the coffee boy doesn’t seem so compelling when you remember that he was meeting foreign dignitaries on Trump’s behalf-including after the election.
BREAKING: The Washington Post has obtained emails showing that "Low level coffee boy," George Papadopoulos had multiple emails back and forth with high-level Campaign officials, including Bannon and Flyyn, related to foreign outreach and meetings with Russians.
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) March 23, 2018
Remember when Bannon was thought to have no Russia exposure?
It turns out that Papadopoulos stayed with Trump through to Inauguration-and was trying to set up foreign trips. His efforts at outreach with Russia were encouraged by Trump senior aides.
When a Russian news agency reached out to George Papadopoulos to request an interview shortly before the 2016 election, the young adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump made sure to seek approval from campaign headquarters.
“You should do it,” deputy communications director Bryan Lanza urged Papadopoulos in a September 2016 email, emphasizing the benefits of a U.S. “partnership with Russia.”
The exchange was a sign that Papadopoulos — who pushed the Trump operation to meet with Russian officials — had the campaign’s blessing for some of his foreign outreach.
This Russian news organization was: the Interfax News Agency-the same one that Mueller targeted in his indictment of 13 Russians who interfered in our election.
Lanza gave the go-ahead, citing the conflict in Syria as a reason to work with the Russians. Papadopoulos then offered to send the campaign a copy of the interview after it was published.
“You’re the best. Thank you!” Lanza responded.
Lanza declined to comment.
In the interview, published Sept. 30, 2016, Papadopoulos told the Russian media outlet that Trump had been “open about his willingness to usher in a new chapter in U.S.-Russia ties,” specifically citing the need for cooperation in Syria.
According to prosecutors, Papadopoulos also sent the Interfax story to Mifsud after its publication.
Mifsud-the Russian professor who told him about the thousands of emails damaging to Hillary Clinton.
Baygarova, the Interfax reporter who interviewed Papadopoulos, said in an email to The Post that she reached out to Papadopoulos after being assigned to interview a representative of both presidential campaigns. She said she sent messages to each person on a list of Trump foreign policy advisers. Only Papadopoulos responded.
She said he insisted on answering questions in writing, resisting edits even after they met in person in New York. During their meeting, she said Papadopoulos was “very nice and friendly.”
“I got the impression that he was not very experienced. However, he did seem to be very ambitious and sincere a Trump supporter,” she said.
In the meeting Papadopoulos pushed what was a recurring theme in the Trump campaign: that it sure would be great to ‘get along with Russia.’
In an interview w/ Interfax Russian News Agency published Sept 30, 2016, Papadopoulos said Trump had been “open about his willingness to usher in a new chapter in U.S.-Russia ties."
In another interview, he said Trump viewed Putin as a “responsible actor & potential partner." https://t.co/etnvuE6Dyr
— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) March 23, 2018
This was a recurring them throughout the campaign:
In December 2015, Papadopoulos went to work for the campaign of neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who was then challenging Trump for the GOP nomination.
After several months, Papadopoulos reached out again to the Trump campaign to inform them he would be leaving the flagging Carson campaign.
“I wanted to let you know that I stopped working as Ben Carson’s principal foreign policy adviser. I’d be interested in getting on board with the Trump team. Is the team looking to expand?” Papadopoulos wrote to Glassner early in March 2016.
At the time, Trump was surging in the polls, and the real estate developer was under increasing pressure to name foreign policy advisers to his team.
Glassner quickly connected Papadopoulos with campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis.
Clovis and Papadopoulos spoke by phone four days later, a conversation in which Clovis said improving relations with Russia was a top foreign policy goal of the campaign, according to what Papadopoulos later told prosecutors. Clovis, who did not respond to a request for comment, has previously denied that account.”
A top campaign policy goal.