[The Federalist] The recently released transcript of George Papadopoulos’s congressional testimony reveals a significant fact: Papadopoulos’s introduction to Joseph Mifsud‐the source of the "Russia has Hillary’s emails" tip that purportedly prompted the FBI to launch an investigation into the Trump campaign‐was arranged mere days after Papadopoulos announced he was joining the Trump campaign.
Saturday evening, Papadopoulos rocked Twitter with claims that "a woman in London, who was the FBI’s legal attaché in the U.K." encouraged him "to meet Joseph Mifsud in Rome in March 2016." These new revelations raise fresh concerns that, with the approval of the FBI, foreign governments were meddling in the 2016 election.
Mifsud has long been a focal point of those on the right attempting to disembowel the Russia collusion hoax. The basics have been known for some time.
From court documents filed in connection to Papadopoulos’s guilty plea for lying to the FBI and from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s (HPSCI) report on "Russian Active Measures," we know that "on March 14, 2016, George met London-based college Professor Joseph Mifsud while traveling in Italy." During that meeting, "Mifsud, then director of the London Academy of Diplomacy, claimed connections to the Russian Government."
A week later, on March 21, 2016, Trump publicly identified Papadopoulos as one of his foreign policy advisors. Then on March 24, 2016, Mifsud traveled to London, "where he introduced George to a young woman named Olga," telling the newly named Trump advisor that Olga was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s niece and suggesting they could arrange meetings with high-level Russian officials. |