On October 5, 2017, Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos pled guilty to lying to FBI agents about his connections to the Russian government during the Trump campaign.¹Reuters, Oct 30, 2017
Former Trump adviser Papadopoulos pleads guilty to lying to FBI
retrieved 8/2/18

Papadopoulos joined the Trump campaign in March, 2016. While traveling in Italy that month he met Joseph Mifsud, a Maltese professor at a now-defunct London academy who had contacts with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the following months the pair sought to arrange a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin or their respective aides with encouragement from the Trump campaign,²New York Times, Oct 31, 2017
Ongoing Trump Migraine: His Initial Foreign Policy Team
retrieved 8/2/18 and Mifsud arranged introductions between Papadopoulos and Russians with ties to the Russian government.³New York Times, Dec 30, 2017
How the Russia Inquiry Began: A Campaign Aide, Drinks and Talk of Political Dirt
retrieved 8/2/18

At a Trump campaign foreign policy team meeting on March 31, 2016, Papadopoulos told Trump, Jeff Sessions, and other Trump campaign members that he had contacts to set up a meeting between Trump and Putin. Trump reportedly listened with interest but was non-committal.⁴New York Times, Oct 31, 2017
Ongoing Trump Migraine: His Initial Foreign Policy Team
retrieved 8/2/18⁵New York Times, Dec 30, 2017
How the Russia Inquiry Began: A Campaign Aide, Drinks and Talk of Political Dirt
retrieved 8/2/18

On August 31, 2018, Papadopoulos’ lawyers submitted a Defendant’s Sentencing Memorandum to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on his behalf that states:

Trump posted a picture on the day of the Trump campaign foreign policy team meeting showing Sessions, Papadopoulos, and Trump at the meeting:

#MakeAmericaGreatAgain #Trump2016https://t.co/aANxirUJJD pic.twitter.com/VlMynYN3sd

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2016

In late April, 2016, Mifsud told Papadopoulos he had learned from high-level Russian officials that the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails,” according to court records. The hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computers and Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s email account was not yet public knowledge; even victims did not know yet that they had been hacked.⁷New York Times, Dec 30, 2017
How the Russia Inquiry Began: A Campaign Aide, Drinks and Talk of Political Dirt
retrieved 8/2/18⁸Politico, July 13, 2018
Mueller’s timeline: How the Russian hacks unfolded
retrieved 8/2/18

In May, 2016, Papadopoulos reportedly told an Australian diplomat “during a night of heavy drinking” in a London bar about the Russians had “dirt” on Clinton and the hacked emails. Two months later, when leaked Democratic emails began appearing online, Australian officials passed that information to their American counterparts and in July, 2016, the FBI’s investigation into possible links between the Trump campaign and Russian officials began.⁹New York Times, Dec 30, 2017
How the Russia Inquiry Began: A Campaign Aide, Drinks and Talk of Political Dirt
retrieved 8/2/18

Papadopoulos continued to pursue some sort of meeting between the Trump campaign and the Russians for several months and regularly updated Trump campaign officials on his efforts, and he received continued encouragement from the Trump campaign to do so.¹⁰New York Times, Oct 31, 2017
Ongoing Trump Migraine: His Initial Foreign Policy Team
retrieved 8/2/18¹¹Washington Post, March 23, 2018
‘You should do it’: Trump officials encouraged George Papadopoulos’s foreign outreach, documents show
retrieved 8/2/18

Mifsud disappeared after giving an interview to Italian newspaper La Repubblica published on November 1, 2017.¹²Buzzfeed News, July 11, 2018
The Professor At The Center Of The Trump-Russia Probe Was A No-Show In Court
retrieved 8/2/18

On Papadopoulos’ sentencing day, September 7, 2018, Trump declared, “I don’t know Papadopoulos. I don’t know him. I saw him sitting in one picture at a table with me. That’s the only thing I know about him. I don’t know him. But they got him, I guess, on a couple of lies, I guess that’s what they’re saying.”¹³The White House, Sept. 7, 2018
Remarks by President Trump in Press Gaggle Aboard Air Force One
retrieved 9/9/18