Former foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump’s campaign, George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI. According to the court documents, Papadopoulos was charged with willfully and knowingly making false statements to FBI agents about the timing, extent and nature of his relationships and interactions with certain foreign nationals whom he understood to have close connections with senior Russian government officials. The former Trump’s adviser was arrested on July 27 and pleaded guilty on October 5, Fox News reports.
Previous media reports indicated that Papadopoulos emailed seven other campaign officials in March last year and offered to set up a meeting with Russian officials to discuss U.S.-Russia ties under President Trump. Now Special Counsel Robert Muller’s office released documents which show that after he became adviser to Trump’s campaign, Papadopoulos interacted with a professor who had substantial connections to Russian government officials and told Papadopoulos that the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. The professor disclosed the information before Papadopoulos joined Trump’s campaign, the former adviser told the investigators. The documents show that Papadopoulos tried to use professors’ Russian connections and that of a female Russian national to arrange meetings between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials.
The documents show that even though senior Trump officials sometimes ignored Papadopoulos, they were aware of his efforts which lasted for months, The Washington Post reports. The contacts between them can additionally complicate the attempts of the White House to distance Trump from Papadopoulos.
Papadopoulos used to be an adviser for Ben Carson’s presidental campaign, but later joined Trump’s team. Papadopoulos’s LinkedIn page says that he has worked as an oil and gas consultant.
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