On Tuesday, President Trump responded to the news that former campaign advisor George Papadopoulos cut a plea deal with federal investigators over his alleged role in trying to work with Russian contacts by slamming the “low level volunteer” as having “already proven to be a liar.”
“The Fake News is working overtime. As Paul Manaforts lawyer said, there was ‘no collusion’ and events mentioned took place long before he came to the campaign,” wrote Trump. “Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar. Check the DEMS!”
Trump’s statement followed news that Papadopoulos had cut a plea deal with authorities and had provided some evidence of alleged contact between himself as a representative of the Trump campaign and Russian government intermediaries. Trump’s reference to him having been “proven to be a liar” refers to the fact that Papadoulos pleaded guilty to initially lying to the FBI.
Papadopoulos claims intermediaries for Russian officials offered him “dirt” on Hillary Clinton via thousands of leaked emails. Daily Wire Editor-In-Chief Ben Shapiro provides more details on the case:
The statement of offense, describing what Papadopoulos admitted to, suggests attempted collusion between Papadopoulos and fronts for the Russian government. According to that statement, Papadopoulos was told he would become a foreign policy advisor to the Trump campaign in early March 2016 by a “campaign supervisor.” He was also told that a better relationship with Russia would be a “principal foreign policy focus of the Campaign.” While in Italy, Papadopoulos “met an individual who was a professor based in London.” When the professor found out that Papadopoulos was working for the Trump campaign, the professor became very interested in Papadopoulos; the feeling was mutual, because the professor “claimed to have substantial connections with Russian government officials, which defendant Papadopoulos thought could increase his importance as a policy advisor to the Campaign.” In late March, Papadopoulos met with the professor in London, and the professor brought a female Russian national — allegedly a “relative of Russian President Vladimir Putin with connections to senior Russian government officials.”
The Associated Press reports that Papadopoulos was arrested in July and has since been interviewed “repeatedly” by authorities. One of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team suggested they might be interviewing Papadopoulos soon.
Trump’s dismissal of the relevance of Papadopoulos was echoed by White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who said he played an “extremely limited” role in the the campaign. According to Sanders, “no activity” by Papadopoulous “was ever done in an official capacity on behalf of the campaign.”
After he dismissed the significance of the Papadopoulos story online, Trump tweeted that the “biggest story” of Monday were revelations about the sketchy dealings of Tony Podesta, brother of Hillary Clinton confidant John Podesta, that prompted him to leave his powerful lobbying firm. (Read more on Podesta here.)
“The biggest story yesterday, the one that has the Dems in a dither, is Podesta running from his firm,” the president tweeted. “What he know about Crooked Dems is earth shattering. He and his brother could Drain The Swamp, which would be yet another campaign promise fulfilled. Fake News weak!”