DNC: Papadopoulos's UK contact may be dead

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Friday raised the prospect that the London-based professor who told former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos that Russia had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton may be dead.

DNC lawyers wrote in court filings Friday that Joseph Mifsud, who spoke to Papadopoulos during the 2016 presidential election, "is missing and may be deceased," Bloomberg News reported. The lawyers did not elaborate.

The DNC stood by its claim in a statement to The Hill on Friday. The committee indicated that an investigator had been used to find Mifsud, who had disappeared for months, and was told the Maltese professor may be dead.

“The DNC's counsel has attempted to serve Mifsud for months and has been unable to locate or contact him. In addition, public reports have said he has disappeared and hasn't been seen for months," DNC spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said.

Mifsud was reportedly teaching at a private university in Rome before he vanished late last year, shortly after his name emerged as a key figure in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The professor had reportedly not been in contact with prosecutors in Italy seeking to question him over allegations of financial wrongdoing and his fiancé told Business Insider earlier this year that she could not reach him.

The DNC's revelation came in court filings Friday in their lawsuit against Russia, the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks for interfering in the 2016 presidential election. According to Bloomberg, the DNC said it believed all of the defendants in the case had been served, with the exception of Mifsud.

A hearing in that lawsuit is scheduled for next week in federal court in New York.

Papadopoulos was sentenced in a separate legal case Friday to two weeks in prison for lying to FBI investigators about his contacts with Mifsud during the campaign, the first sentence for a former campaign aide as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference.

Mifsud was reportedly known to have high-level contacts in the Russian government, including with Sergei Lavrov, Russia's current foreign minister. During the campaign Papadopoulos told the president and now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions that Russia was interested in setting up a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sessions testified last year that he rejected Papadopoulos's suggestion of a meeting, though the former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser alleged in a CNN interview Friday that Sessions was "enthusiastic" about such a meeting.

Sessions "was actually enthusiastic about a meeting between the candidate and President Putin," Papadopoulos told CNN, adding that Trump "gave me a sort of a nod" but "wasn't committed either way" to the idea.

Trump officials have long downplayed Papadopoulos's role within the campaign in public statements, while President Trump has long denied any collusion with Russia during the election.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/405672-dnc-lawyers-papadopoulos-uk-contact-may-be-dead

Manafort considering plea deal to avoid second trial: report

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is reportedly considering an agreement with prosecutors that would involve him pleading guilty on some charges in exchange for avoiding a second trial set to begin this month in Washington, D.C.

A source close to Manafort's negotiations told Bloomberg News that the former Trump associate's lawyers have discussed the number of charges Manafort may admit to and the length of a sentence to be recommended by prosecutors.

He faces seven separate charges in Washington, D.C., including conspiracy to launder money and failing to register as a foreign lobbyist. Manafort is also accused of acting as an unregistered foreign agent of Ukraine and obstructing justice.

The Washington, D.C., trial follows Manafort's Virginia trial, which ended last month with his conviction on eight felony counts of tax and bank fraud. The federal jury declared a mistrial on 10 other charges.

Manafort is due to be sentenced on those counts later this year.

One of those counts, failing to report foreign bank accounts, carries a maximum of five years in prison; and he was found guilty on two count of bank fraud, which carry a maximum sentence of 30 years.

Manafort's conviction last month marked a victory for special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Russia and the 2016 election, however, were not major parts of the trial against Manafort. Mueller's more than yearlong probe has charged more than two-dozen Russians in separate plots to use social media to sow discord among the American public and hack into Democratic organizations and U.S. electoral systems.

Manafort has denied the accusations against him, which came about as a result of Mueller's ongoing investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.

In addition to Manafort's indictment last month, prosecutors in New York obtained a guilty plea from Michael Cohen, the president's former longtime attorney. Cohen, in pleading guilty, also implicated Trump in a felony campaign finance violation.

Trump, meanwhile, has attacked the Mueller investigation for months, deeming it a "witch hunt" and calling on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to end the probe formally.Trump has also accused prosecutors of treating Manafort, whom he called a "good man," worse than famed gangster Al Capone.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/405661-manafort-considering-plea-deal-to-avoid-second-trial-report

'Like sitting on an electric chair': Mueller grand jury grills Roger Stone associate Credico

Talk show host and liberal activist Randy Credico testified for more than two hours Friday before a grand jury run by special counsel Robert Mueller's office that appears to be zeroing in on former Trump adviser Roger Stone.

Credico emerged from the questioning, describing it as something of an ordeal.

"It was like sitting on an electric chair for a couple of hours," he told POLITICO.

Credico's attorney Martin Stolar said the Mueller team — which is investigating potential links between the Trump campaign and Russia — seemed firmly focused on Stone, a longtime informal Trump confidant.

"The subject matter of the questions was primarily his relationship with Roger Stone," Stolar said. "The majority of the questioning had to do with Roger Stone."

Mueller's team is interested in Stone because of his outreach to WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, whose organization released emails during the 2016 presidential campaign that U.S. intelligence officials say Russian hackers stole from the personal account of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

Credico is a devoted advocate for Assange, and Stone's contacts with Credico have led to speculation that Credico served as an intermediary of sorts between Assange and Stone.

Asked how much of the questioning Friday was about Assange, Credico said: "Very little."

Stolar then cut him off: "No, don't. … The specific questions we're not going to get into."

Credico said he remains a passionate supporter of Assange, but views the Mueller probe as distinct from the U.S. government's inquiries into Assange and WikiLeaks, which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dubbed a "hostile intelligence service" while leading the CIA.

"This is a separate effort," Credico said. "I can go back and do what I was doing before, hopefully, and that is advocating for the release and the freedom of Julian Assange, who is a very close friend of mine. … It's time to circle the wagons rather than the firing squad around Julian Assange."

Credico's appearance at the courthouse had surreal elements, with the grand jury witness spontaneously doing impressions for reporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders and late President Ronald Reagan. Credico was accompanied by his miniature dog, Bianca, who entered the courthouse in a pet carrier and joined the liberal activist and avowed Sanders supporter in the grand jury room.

Credico said he would not have appeared if Mueller's team had not agreed to accommodate the dog.

"She guided me through," he said. "She's very spoiled. … I want to thank them for being dog lovers. There's a lot of hoops I had to jump through to get her down here, but I couldn't have done it without her."

The bulk of the questioning Friday was conducted by Mueller prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky, but two other prosecutors were present, Stolar said. He declined to identify the other prosecutors. The grand jurors also took an active part in the questioning, Credico said.

"I was looking at the prosecutors. I was looking at the jury sometimes. Again — pretty heavy in there for me," he said.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/07/mueller-grand-jury-questions-credico-811127