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A former foreign policy advisor to Donald Trump's presidential campaign has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians who claimed to have “thousands of emails” on Hillary Clinton, in the latest charges filed in the investigation of the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia.
George Papadopoulos, 30, of Chicago, has agreed to cooperate with the investigation led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, according to a plea agreement unsealed on Monday.
He pleaded guilty on Oct. 5 to making false statements to disguise his contacts with Russians whom he thought had “dirt” on Clinton, according to court papers. He was arrested in July as he got off a plane at Dulles International Airport.
After he was contacted by an unnamed Russian professor in March, Papadopoulos exchanged emails with an official in the Russian foreign ministry, court papers say. Among the topics he discussed was a possible visit by Trump to Russia.
“As mentioned we are all very excited by the possibility of a good relationship with Mr. Trump,” one Russian emailed him.
In April, after he had become an advisor to the campaign, Papadopoulos met with the Russian professor at a London hotel. The professor said he had just returned from a trip to Moscow, where he was told “the Russians had emails of Clinton.”
Papadopoulos told other leaders in the Trump campaign that he was in contact with Russians, and said there were some “interesting messages coming in from Moscow about a trip.”
An unnamed campaign official, described as a campaign “supervisor,” encouraged him to make the trip, a document reads.
Papadopoulos was one of several foreign policy advisors to Trump during his campaign.
Papadopoulos previously had served as a policy and economic advisor to Ben Carson, who notably struggled with domestic and foreign policy issues during his failed presidential run.
Before that, the 30-year-old was a consultant at a London-based oil and gas company. He’s a director at the London Centre of International Law Practice. He graduated from DePaul University in 2009.
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7:55 a.m.: Adds additional details
Latimes
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