Chuck Ross
@ChuckRossDC
NEW: Details of "suspicious" approaches of George Papadopoulos, including from Sergei Millian, the Steele dossier source. http://dailycaller.com/2018/06/06/george-papadopoulos-millian-suspicious/ … @dailycaller
http://dailycaller.com/2018/06/06/george-papadopoulos-millian-suspicious/
Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos was target of “suspicious” approaches, his wife claims
Simona Mangiante wonders if Papadopoulos was targeted for entrapment
A dossier source allegedly offered Papadopoulos $30,000 a month to work from inside Trump administration
In the wake of the revelation that an FBI informant lured George Papadopoulos to London during the 2016 campaign, the former Trump campaign adviser has grown skeptical of many of his contacts during and after the election, his wife says.
Papadopoulos’ contacts with the FBI informant — a former University of Cambridge professor named Stefan Halper — have been widely reported over the past several weeks. The 30-year-old Chicago native’s interactions with Joseph Mifsud and Alexander Downer, two diplomats who are key to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election, are also well known. (RELATED: Papadopoulos’ Wife: Trump Aide Was ‘Absolutely Not Involved’ In Collusion)
Simona Mangiante, Papadopoulos’ wife, is now drawing attention to two other encounters that Papadopoulos has had over the past two years that she considers “highly suspicious.” One of those contacts offered to pay Papadopoulos $30,000 a month while he worked inside the Trump administration.
“It looks to be one among a series of attempts to entrap George. The question today to me [is whether] these people are simply shady businessmen or are they part of a greater attempt to entrap George in illegal activity,” Mangiante, a former attorney in the European Parliament, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
One of the people who has raised red flags is Sergei Millian, a Belarus-born businessman who is alleged to be a major source for the infamous Steele dossier. Papadopoulos also had a mysterious encounter with an Israeli national on the Greek island of Mykonos, Mangiate, who married Papadopoulos in March, said.
TheDCNF has not found evidence that Millian or the Israeli national attempted to set up Papadopoulos. Neither responded to requests for comment.
Papadopoulos and Millian met for the first time at around the same time the FBI opened its counterintelligence investigation, code-named “Crossfire Hurricane,” TheDCNF has learned.
That probe started on July 31, 2016, reportedly based on information passed to the U.S. government by Downer, the Australian high commissioner to the U.K. Downer and Papadopoulos met at a London bar on May 10, 2016. There, Downer says Papadopoulos made reference to Russians having possession of information that would be damaging to then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Mangiante, an Italian national, confirmed to TheDCNF that Millian is the individual Papadopoulos described in a July 22, 2016 Facebook message that is cited in documents the special counsel’s office released in October.
“On or about July 22, 2016, PAPADOPOULOS messages Foreign Contact 2 on Facebook to ask whether Foreign Contact 2 knew a particular individual with extensive ties to Russian-based businesses and persons,” reads an affidavit released along with Papadopoulos’ guilty plea. “PAPADOPOULOS asked Foreign Contact 2 ‘[i]f you know any background of him that is noteworthy before I see him, kindly send my way.'” (RELATED: George Papadopoulos’s Fascinating Link To The Dossier)
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty on Oct. 5 to lying to the FBI during a January 2017 interview about the timing of his contacts with Mifsud, a Maltese professor and former diplomat. The pair met several times during the campaign.
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