di PAOLO G. BRERA

ROME - Under his feet, people talk about the “Heart of the European cybersecurity” at the summit organized by Enisa, the European Network and Information Security Agency. Above his feet, the academic who is said to have offered to Donald Trump’s aides, during the electoral campaign, thousands of Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails, kindly smiles: “Sorry, I cannot comment”, he replies while his phone is receiving calls from all over the world. “And I have decided to get hide in my office”, he wil ... - Under his feet, people talk about the “Heart of the European cybersecurity” at the summit organized by Enisa, the European Network and Information Security Agency. Above his feet, the academic who is said to have offered to Donald Trump’s aides, during the electoral campaign, thousands of Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails, kindly smiles: “Sorry, I cannot comment”, he replies while his phone is receiving calls from all over the world. “And I have decided to get hide in my office”, he wil ...

ROME - Under his feet, people talk about the “Heart of the European cybersecurity” at the summit organized by Enisa, the European Network and Information Security Agency. Above his feet, the academic who is said to have offered to Donald Trump’s aides, during the electoral campaign, thousands of Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails, kindly smiles: “Sorry, I cannot comment”, he replies while his phone is receiving calls from all over the world. “And I have decided to get hide in my office”, he will smile again one hour after this interview he didn’t want to give.



Joseph Mifsud is the Maltese professor who, according to the rumors and anticipations of the Russiagate investigation, has approached George Papadopoulos, an aide of Donald Trump during his presidential campaign, to help him to contact Russian authorities in the Kremlin, even for organizing a meeting between Trump and Putin. Mr. Mifsud is said to have given to the aide “dirty information” on Mrs. Clinton collected by the Russian. “This is nonsense”, Mifsud comments, “friendship is friendship but Papadopoulos doesn’t tell the truth. The only thing I did was to facilitate contacts between official and unofficial sources to resolve a crisis. It is usual business everywhere. I put think tanks in contact, groups of experts with other groups of experts”, he states.



“I am a member of the European Council on Foreign relations”, he adds, “and you know which is the only foundation I am member of? The Clinton Foundation. Between you and me, my thinking is left-leaning. But I predicted Trump’s victory as well as Brexit. Everyone of us wants peace. If the governments don’t talk each other, we citizens must keep talking”.



Ok. But what about the emails stolen from Mrs. Clinton? “The dirty job” offered to Papadopoulos? “I don’t know. I strongly deny any discussion of mine about secrets concerning Hillary Clinton. I swear it on my daughter. I don’t know anyone belonging to the Russian government: the only Russian I know is Ivan Timofeev, director of the think tank “Russian International affairs council”. Which is based at The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. “But this is meaningless”, Mifsud says.



Mifsud underlines that he and Papadopoulos met three or four times overall. “He came here in Italy, in Rome, with other seven experts of international relations working for the London Centre of International Law Practice. We were dining and, if I remember well, he announced that we would join Trump’s electoral campaign team. After that, we kept in touch via email or when we subsequently met in person. But, let’s be clear: the Russians didn’t ask me to meet Papadopoulos. Mr. Papadopoulos asked me for contacts in several areas: I proposed someone in the Arabian Gulf, then in Latin America, an hot issue for Trump after his remarks on the wall at the border with Mexico, then in Russia and the European Council. They chose Russia as they were interested in sanctions against Moscow, Nato, Ukraine and a more stable relationship with Russia. A topic very sensitive also for the Russians”.



Later, Mifsud arrived in Moscow for a meeting and on that occasion he understood what the Russians really thought about: “I understood they were really skeptical about the possibility of changing the status quo, under the presidency either of Clinton or Trump. I talked about this topic also with Russian Foreign Ministry Sergej Lavrov, when the European Union elected a new president of the European Commission. After Barroso, chances of a new course were a bit higher. I suggested Foundations to keep talking and the bypass was still Timofeev. I am not a secret agent. I never got any money from the Russians: my conscience is clear



Great. Then, though, he introduced to Timofeev "Putin's niece" that actually wasn't his real niece. "She's just a student, a very good-looking one. As many other students, I introduced her at the London Center: Papadopoulos was in, and I learned about his interest in her, very different from an academic one. He offered her to go with him to America. Putin wasn't involved at all, totally an invention". The same as Mubarak's niece? Mifsud laughs: "What a stupid thing, yes. I put my finger on it: that girl, she has nothing to do with the Kremiln or with secret service. Anyway, I have already talked about it with the Fbi, when the State Department invited me to a conference in Capitol Hill".