George Papadopoulos - Wikipedia
George Papadopoulos (born August 1987) is an American former campaign staffer who served in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. On October 5, 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to making false statements to FBI agents about contacts he had with the Russian government in 2016 relating to U.S.-Russia relations and Donald Trump's campaign.
| George Papadopoulos | |
|---|---|
| Born | George Papadopoulos August 1987 (age 30)[1] |
| Nationality | American |
Papadopoulos was born in August 1987 to family of Greek heritage.[1] He graduated from Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois, in 2005. He graduated with an undergraduate degree in political science from DePaul University in 2009.[2]
Papadopoulos was an unpaid intern at the Hudson Institute in 2011 and later work as a contact research assistant to a senior fellow at the institute.[3][a]
In 2014, Papadopoulos authored op-ed pieces in Israeli publications. In one, published in the right-wing Arutz Sheva, Papadopoulos argued that the U.S. should focus on its "stalwart allies" Israel, Greece, and Cyprus to "contain the newly emergent Russian fleet"; in another, published in Ha'aretz, he contended that Israel should exploit its natural gas resources in partnership with Cyprus and Greece rather than Turkey.[4]
Beginning in December 2015, he served on the National Security and Foreign Policy Advisory Committee for Ben Carson's campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.[5]
Papadopoulos joined Donald Trump's presidential campaign in March 2016 as a foreign policy advisor.[6] While working for Trump's campaign, Papadopoulos sent emails concerning Vladimir Putin to seven campaign officials. Trump national campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis[7] encouraged Papadopoulos to fly to Russia to meet with agents of the Russian Foreign Ministry, after being told that Russia had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton it wanted to share with Trump's campaign.[8][9]
He met on March 14th and 21st with a Russian connected professor about the "dirt" on Hillary Clinton in the form of "thousands of emails." At that point,he was already working for the Trump campaign. At the March 21st meeting, the professor brought another Russian woman.[10]
This occurred before there was public knowledge of the hack of Democratic National Committee and of John Podesta's emails, both of which U.S. intelligence agencies believe were carried out by Russia.[11] Between March and September 2016, Papadopoulos made at least six requests for Trump to meet with Russian politicians. In May, Paul Manafort forwarded one such request to his colleague Rick Gates saying, "We need someone to communicate that Trump is not doing these trips. It should be someone low-level in the campaign so as not to send any signal." Gates delegated the task to the campaign’s correspondence coordinator referring to him as "the person responding to all mail of non-importance."[8][12][13] In an interview about Russia–United States relations with Interfax in September 2016, Papadopoulos said that Barack Obama had failed to follow through on his promises to cooperate with Russia, and asserted that the U.S. had made insufficient joint efforts with Russia against terrorism.[14]
Just after Trump became President in January 2017, Papadopoulos visited Israel and told settlers in the West Bank that Trump supported their settlements.[4][15]
Senator Richard Burr, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, said in October 2017 that the panel was interested in Papadopoulos because he had sent e-mails attempting to set up meetings between Trump and Vladimir Putin.[16]
Papadopoulos was arrested at Washington Dulles Airport on July 27, 2017, and he has since been cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation.[9] On October 5, 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to making false statements to FBI agents relating to contacts he had with agents of the Russian government while working for the Trump campaign.[17][18] Papadopoulos's arrest and guilty plea became public on October 30, 2017, when court documents showing the guilty plea were unsealed.[19]
On the same day, two other Trump advisers—Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates—were arrested after being charged by the special counsel.[9][20]