‘Great work’: Papadopoulos’s admission that he lied to the FBI shows he was praised within the Trump campaign for forging Russian links

A former Trump campaign aide has become the first person to face charges linking the campaign with Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 election.

The “statement of the offence” that George Papadopoulos agrees in his plea deal is accurate states that he was told in April 2016 by an unnamed “professor” that Russia had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails”.

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He lied to Robert Mueller’s FBI investigators about whether this took place before or after he had joined the campaign.

The document also shows that unnamed campaign officials told him “great work” when he said he was trying to arrange a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and encouraged him to make a trip to meet Russian officials in lieu of Trump himself.

The document sets out the following timeline:

Early March 2016

Papadopoulos, a London-based former adviser to the presidential candidate Ben Carson, learns he will become a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, with a focus on improving the US relationship with Russia.

On or about 14 March 2016

In Italy, Papadopoulos meets an unnamed professor, based in London, who he understands has “substantial connections to Russian government officials”. The professor is uninterested in Papadopoulos until he learns that Papadopoulos has joined the Trump campaign.

16 March 2016

WikiLeaks launches a searchable archive of emails sent to and from Hillary Clinton’s controversial private server when she was secretary of state, obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

On or about 21 March 2016

The Trump campaign tells the Washington Post that Papadopoulos is one of five foreign policy advisers. Trump calls him an “excellent guy”.

On or about 24 March 2016

At a meeting with the professor, Papadopoulos is introduced to a Russian woman he believes has connections to Russian government officials and is a relative of Vladimir Putin. (He later finds out this Putin family connection is false.)

Some time between 24 March and 31 March 2016

Papadopoulos emails several members of the Trump campaign telling them that he had met the professor, the Russian woman, and the Russian ambassador to London (this latter was false), and they had discussed arranging a meeting between the Trump campaign and the Russian leadership to “discuss US-Russia ties under President Trump”. His unnamed campaign supervisor tells him: “Great work” but urges him to make no commitments at this time.

31 March 2016

Papadopoulos attends a national security meeting with Trump and other campaign advisers. He tells them he has connections that could help arrange a meeting between Trump and Putin. Trump posts a picture of the meeting to Instagram.

Early April 2016

Papadopoulos works with his Russian contacts to arrange a meeting between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, sending “multiple emails” to the campaign about this. The Russian woman says at one point: “We are all very excited by the possibility of a good relationship with Mr Trump.” The professor says he is going to Moscow for “a Valdai meeting”. The Valdai Discussion Club thinktank meets in Moscow on 19 April 2016.

18 April 2016

The professor introduces Papadopoulos by email to someone who claims to have connections to the Russian ministry of foreign affairs. The two have “multiple conversations” over the next few weeks about setting up a meeting between the campaign and Russian officials.

25 April 2016

Papadopoulos claims to a senior campaign figure that he has secured “an open invitation by Putin for Mr Trump to meet him when he is ready”.

On or about 26 April 2016

The professor tells Papadopoulos that he has just met senior Russian officials in Moscow and learned that Moscow has obtained “dirt” on Clinton and “thousands of emails” connected to her. Subsequently, Papadopoulos continued to correspond with the Trump campaign and with his Russian contacts about setting up a meeting and had at least one phone call with his campaign supervisor.

June 2016

Separately, Donald Trump Jr, the future president’s son, meets Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya after learning she has damaging information about Clinton.

22 July 2016

WikiLeaks releases thousands of emails leaked from the Democratic National Committee.

On or about 15 August 2016

Papadopoulos’s campaign supervisor tells him, “I would encourage you” and another unnamed foreign policy adviser to “make the trip” to meet Russian officials “off the record” in lieu of Trump himself going. This trip did not take place.

7 October 2016

WikiLeaks begins to publish thousands of emails from Clinton aide John Podesta’s Gmail account.

27 January 2017

In an interview with the FBI, Papadopoulos lies about his contacts with the professor and the Russian woman, claiming they took place before he joined the Trump campaign and that the professor was “just a guy talk[ing] up connections or something” and that his contacts with the Russian woman had only been “emails such as ‘Hi, how are you?’” He also failed to inform the FBI about his introduction to the man who claimed to be connected to the Russian ministry of foreign affairs.

16 February 2017

The FBI interviews Papadopoulos again.

17 February 2017

Papadopoulos deactivates his Facebook account, which contained information about his communication with the professor and the man who claimed to be connected to the Russian ministry of foreign affairs.

23 February 2017

He ceases using his cellphone number and starts using a new one.

27 July 2017

Papadopoulos is arrested at Washington DC’s Dulles airport. Subsequently he meets with the FBI “on numerous occasions” to “provide information and answer questions”.

5 October 2017

Papadopoulos pleads guilty to misleading the FBI and signs the detailed statement of the offence, declaring it is “true and correct”.

30 October 2017

His statement of the offence is released.