Secret Guilty Plea of Ex-Trump Campaign Adviser George Papadopoulos Reveals Russian Ties
by TOM WINTER and TRACY CONNOR
A former Trump campaign adviser struck a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, secretly pleading guilty three weeks ago to lying to federal agents about his contacts with Kremlin-connected Russians.
Fmr. Trump Adviser Papadopolous Pleads Guilty to Making False Statements to FBI
Fmr. Trump Adviser Papadopolous Pleads Guilty to Making False Statements to FB
George Papadopoulos, who joined the Trump team in spring 2016 as an energy and foreign policy expert, communicated with a "campaign supervisor" during the campaign about his attempts to arrange a meeting with the Russians to discuss U.S.-Russia ties during a Trump presidency, according to court documents.
The supervisor, who was not named in the documents, told him, "Great work."
He relayed to the superviser that during his communications with Russian contacts, the Russians said they had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton and thousands of emails.
Papadopoulos lied to the FBI about the timing and nature of the communications, officials said.
"Through his false statements and omissions, defendant ... impeded the FBI's ongoing investigation into the existence of any links or coordination between individuals associated with the Campaign and the Russian government's efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election," prosecutors wrote.
Mueller's bombshell announcement about Papadopoulos came shortly after indictments against former campaign Paul Manafort and Manafort associate Rick Gates were unsealed.
Papadopoulos was arrested in July 2017 and pleaded guilty on Oct. 5. His plea agreement says the government will inform the sentencing judge of his "efforts to cooperate with the Government, on the condition that your client continues to respond and provide information regarding any and all matters as to which the Government deems relevant."
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