Tag: George Papadopoulos

How the Russia Inquiry Began: A Campaign Aide, Drinks and Talk of Political Dirt

The following article by Sharon LaFraniere, Mark Mazzetti and Matt Apuzzo was posted on the New York Times website December 30, 2017:

George Papadopoulos was working as an energy consultant in London when the Trump campaign named him a foreign policy adviser in early March 2016. Credit via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

WASHINGTON — During a night of heavy drinking at an upscale London bar in May 2016, George Papadopoulos, a young foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, made a startling revelation to Australia’s top diplomat in Britain: Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton.

About three weeks earlier, Mr. Papadopoulos had been told that Moscow had thousands of emails that would embarrass Mrs. Clinton, apparently stolen in an effort to try to damage her campaign. Continue reading “How the Russia Inquiry Began: A Campaign Aide, Drinks and Talk of Political Dirt”

George Papadopoulos Helped Spur Russia Probe By Spilling Secrets To Diplomat: NYT

The following article by Lesley Wroughton and Roberta Rampton with Reuters was posted on the Huffington Post website December 30, 2017:

It happened “during a night of heavy drinking,” according to the New York Times.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos told an Australian diplomat in May 2016 that Russia had political dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

The conversation between Papadopoulos and the diplomat, Alexander Downer, in London was a driving factor behind the FBI’s decision to open a counter-intelligence investigation of Moscow’s contacts with the Trump campaign, the Times reported. Continue reading “George Papadopoulos Helped Spur Russia Probe By Spilling Secrets To Diplomat: NYT”

For Trump adviser at center of Russia probe, a rapid rise and dramatic fall in his ancestral land

The following article by Griff Witte was posted on the Washington Post website December 10, 2017:

Greece’s defence minister Panos Kammenos (3rd from left) and Russia’s president Vladimir Putin review an honor guard during an arrival ceremony at the Athens Airport. (Alexei Druzhinin/TASS)

ATHENS — A brass band played, fighter jets streaked the clear blue sky and a red carpet adorned the airport tarmac on the day in May 2016 when Vladimir Putin came to Athens for a visit.

“Mr. President, welcome to Greece,” the Greek defense minister, Panos Kammenos, said in Russian as he smiled broadly and greeted a stone-faced Putin at the base of the stairs from the plane.

Kammenos, a pro-Russian Greek nationalist who bragged often of his insider Moscow connections, would receive a second key visitor that day, but with considerably less fanfare.

Not yet 30 years old, George Papadopoulos had been unknown in Greece — and everywhere else — only two months before. Continue reading “For Trump adviser at center of Russia probe, a rapid rise and dramatic fall in his ancestral land”

George Papadopoulos’ “limited” role in Trump’s campaign may have just gotten a whole lot bigger

The following article by Eric Lutz was posted on the mic.com website November 11, 2017:

Stephen Miller — a top aide to President Donald Trump — was reportedly in regular contact with George Papadopoulos, contradicting the White House characterization of the former foreign policy adviser as having played an “extremely limited” role on the campaign.

According to the New York Times on Friday, Papadopoulos kept Miller updated about his contacts with Russians, telling the senior adviser that the then-Republican candidate had an “open invitation” to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that he had “some interesting messages coming in from Moscow about a trip when the time is right.” Continue reading “George Papadopoulos’ “limited” role in Trump’s campaign may have just gotten a whole lot bigger”

Sam Clovis’s really bad excuse for greenlighting a Trump campaign meeting with Russians

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website October 31, 2017:

Sam Clovis was one of the anonymous campaign officials cited in George Papadopoulos’s plea deal. (Charlie Neibergall/AP)

Sam Clovis was always a pretty suspect pick by President Trump to become the chief science adviser at the Agriculture Department — mostly because he’s not actually a scientist. His chief qualification for the job seems to be that he was national co-chairman of Trump’s 2016 campaign. Democrats have also spotlighted his past comments skeptical of climate change and suggesting that laws protecting LGBT rights could lead to the legalization of pedophilia.

And now we can add another reason his nomination could be a key battle for Democrats — and a dicey proposition for Republicans.

The Washington Post’s Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger reported Monday night that Clovis was one of those anonymous campaign officials cited in former Trump aide George Papadopoulos’s plea deal. Clovis was the one named as a “campaign supervisor,” and he both praised Papadopoulos’s efforts to broker a meeting with the Russians as “great work” and later urged Papadopoulos to make the trip rather than Trump. Continue reading “Sam Clovis’s really bad excuse for greenlighting a Trump campaign meeting with Russians”

‘This is a nothing burger’: How conservative media reacted to the Mueller indictments

The following article by Eli Rosenberg was posted on the Washington Post website October 31, 2017:

The revelation Monday of charges against three former Trump campaign officials in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe into possible Russian influence in American politics delivered a sharp jolt to the news cycle.

Anticipation over the arrests had been high for days after news that the first charges in Mueller’s investigation were imminent had seeped out over the weekend. And the documents outlining allegations against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, business partner Rick Gates and former Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, laid out what investigators had found in unvarnished detail. Continue reading “‘This is a nothing burger’: How conservative media reacted to the Mueller indictments”

Top campaign officials knew of Trump adviser’s outreach to Russia

The following article by Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger was posted on the Washington Post website October 30, 2017:

George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in early October to lying to federal officials about his contacts with Russian nationals. He is one of three former Trump campaign officials facing criminal charges. (Elyse Samuels/The Washington Post)

Several weeks after Donald Trump secured the Republican presidential nomination, his national campaign co-chairman urged a foreign policy adviser to meet with Russian officials to foster ties with that country’s government.

“Make the trip, if it is feasible,” Sam Clovis wrote in an August email to George Papadopoulos.

The email, included in court papers unsealed Monday, shows how an otherwise low-profile adviser has become a focus of the federal probe into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Continue reading “Top campaign officials knew of Trump adviser’s outreach to Russia”