Trump Campaign Adviser Met With Russian to Discuss ‘Dirt’ on Clinton
Trump Campaign Adviser Met With Russian to Discuss ‘Dirt’ on Clinton
By
MATT APUZZOOCT. 30, 2017
WASHINGTON — A professor with close ties to the Russian government told an adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in April 2016 that Moscow had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails,” according
to court documents unsealed Monday.
The adviser, George Papadopoulos, has pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about that conversation. The plea represents the most explicit evidence connecting the Trump campaign to the Russian government’s meddling in last year’s election.
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Read the Statement of Offense Against George Papadopoulos
Mr. Papadopoulos repeatedly tried to arrange a meeting between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials, court records show. Attempts to reach Mr. Papadopoulos were not successful.
Mr. Papadopoulos told the F.B.I. in January that the professor was “a nothing.” But Mr. Papadopoulos now acknowledges that he knew the professor had “substantial connections to Russian government officials.”
The United States government has concluded that Russia hacked Democratic email accounts and released thousands of embarrassing emails related to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. The emails began appearing online in the summer of 2016 and the Trump campaign has repeatedly denied any inside knowledge about that.
Mr. Papadopoulos was one of a small group of foreign policy advisers that Mr. Trump announced in March 2016. Another of the advisers, Carter Page, has met with the F.B.I. about his own meetings with Russians.