Donald Trump On Trump Campaign Foreign Policy Adviser George Papadopoulos
#Trump 3/21/16: "Some of ❲my foreign policy team❳…George Papadopoulos, he’s an energy and oil consultant, excellent guy." » #Trump 9/7/18: "I don’t know Papadopoulos. I don’t know him." Click To Tweet
Donald Trump On Trump Campaign Foreign Policy Adviser George Papadopoulos
THEN
March 21, 2016

- March 21, 2016
Interview with Washington Post editorial board
Washington Post, March 21, 2016
A Transcript of Donald Trump's meeting with the Washington Post editorial board
NOW
2017 - 2019

Oct 31, 2017 -
….came to the campaign. Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar. Check the DEMS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2017
Sept 7, 2018 -
The White House, Sept. 7, 2018
Remarks by President Trump in Press Gaggle Aboard Air Force One
Jan 31, 2019 -
New York Times, Feb 1, 2019
Excerpts From Trump’s Interview With The Times
#Trump 3/21/16: "❲My foreign policy team❳…Papadopoulos…an energy and oil consultant, excellent guy." » #Trump 10/31/17: "Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who ❲is❳ a liar." Click To Tweet
Context
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:
George announced at the [March 31, 2016, Trump foreign policy team] meeting that he had connections that could facilitate a foreign policy meeting between Mr. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. While some in the room rebuffed George’s offer, Mr. Trump nodded with approval and deferred to Mr. Sessions who appeared to like the idea and stated that the campaign should look into it.6Politico, Aug. 31, 2018
Defendant’s Sentencing Memorandum (pdf)
retrieved 9/7/18
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
#DonaldTrump 3/21/16: "Papadopoulos, he’s an energy and oil consultant, excellent guy." » #Trump 10/31/17: "Papadopoulos, I never met him, other than one time… I don’t believe I ever spoke to him." Click To Tweet
“[Papadopoulos] was the coffee boy.”
– Trump campaign adviser Michael Caputo