![]() Papadopoulos' guilty plea is going to be more difficult for him to downplay, although the White House tried to do so on Monday. Shortly after the charges against Manafort and Gates were announced, President Trump dismissed their significance. Reporting that has linked the Trump campaign and Russia's effort has been dismissed by the White House and the president as "fake news." This is the first time a connection between the Trump campaign and Russia's attempt to interfere in the 2016 election has been established by an ironclad official government source. Manafort and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser, also attended the meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016. wrote to the associate who set up the meeting, "I love it." It is known, however, that Donald Trump Jr., the son of the billionaire, organized and took a meeting with Russian nationals, who also promised dirt on Clinton. There were many contacts, according to the court documents, which describe meetings or messages between Papadopoulos and at least two Russians, a "professor" in London and a woman.īut what remains unknown is: Who are the high-ranking campaign officials Papadopoulos contacted and what did those other officials do, if anything, with information Papadopoulos shared? Papadopoulos tried to set up additional meetings or contacts between people in the Trump campaign and Russians. "I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press." "I will tell you this, Russia: If you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump said, appearing to encourage Russia to continue digging. A trove of hacked Democratic emails was released by WikiLeaks three months later - in the midst of the Democratic National Convention. The court documents also establish that Russia promised "thousands of emails" that would have "dirt" on Clinton to Papadopoulos in April 2016. ![]() Put in context of other reporting around the Russia story, it is a remarkable establishment. What is now known is that Russia tried to infiltrate the Trump campaign - and did so successfully, at least at some level. The two men were deemed a flight risk and put under house arrest.īut the Papadopoulos matter speaks to the heart of the mandate for Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller - to examine potential connections between people in the Trump campaign and Russian influencemongers. Manafort and Gates pleaded not guilty in federal court Monday to all the charges announced earlier Monday, NPR's Barbara Sprunt reports. ![]() The court documents got a little less focus early in the day than other indictments involving Trump's onetime campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and a top aide, Rick Gates, who was Manafort's deputy and a business partner. ![]() That case is made in charging documents in the case of then-Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Apparent Russian agents began reaching out to Donald Trump's presidential campaign as early as March 2016, the Justice Department established in documents released Monday, with appeals for partnership and offers of help including "dirt" on Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |