A long-awaited report from Special Counsel John Durham comes after former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos repeatedly denied possible collusion and argued that such activity would amount to treason. The FBI has revealed that it has launched a disastrous Trump-Russia investigation.
Durham’s report on Monday said the FBI had launched a multi-year “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into alleged collusion between former President Trump and the Kremlin based on “raw, unanalysed, uncorroborated information” that determined that it “reflects a marked deviation from investigative methods.” Previous Issues Regarding Possible Foreign Election Interference Plot Targeted at Clinton Campaign. ”
Durham said on page 252 of the report that the FBI documented meetings between Papadopoulos and Confidential Personnel Sources (CHS), Undercover Officials (UCE), and that Papadopoulos repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the 2016 campaign. claim.
“During the course of these meetings, Papadopoulos said that despite repeated attempts by CHS-1 to link the disclosure of DNC emails by WikiLeaks to the campaign, Papadopoulos did not seek Russian support for the Trump campaign. Denied. This is a claim made on the Page FISA application,” the report states. .
Former Trump Campaign Aide George Papadopoulos Leaves U.S. District Court After Sentencing Hearing in Washington, D.C., Sept. 7, 2018 (Alex Broblewski/Getty Images)
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The report cited a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant ordering surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, who relied heavily on the Steele dossier, which was unsubstantiated and then debunked.
The documents, commissioned by an investigative firm hired by Hillary Clinton campaign attorney Mark Elias, said that Page worked with Russia to hack the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which WikiLeaks hacked to damage it. DNC) claims to have coordinated the timing of publishing the email. Clinton’s election campaign.
“In fact, when CHS-I directly asked if the campaign had prior knowledge of the WikiLeaks revelations, Papadopoulos said ‘no,'” the report said. “Papadopoulos said the campaign was ‘ [not] At the end of the day, we need to support this kind of activity because, oh, it’s illegal and it violates the national security of the United States,” Papadopoulos said. …is treason.”
Special Counsel John Durham departs after the day’s trial adjourned at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, DC, May 25, 2022. (Ron Sachs/Integrated News Photo/Getty Images)
Papadopoulos likewise repeatedly denied his campaign’s involvement in the WikiLeaks revelations to a second source, but those denials were not included in the FISA application, Durham’s report said. rice field.
“These highly probative statements, some of which were made prior to the first page FISA application, were not included in that application or any subsequent renewals,” the paper said. “Perhaps more importantly, these remarks put anyone at the FBI in line with the original predictions of the Crossfire Hurricane, namely Mr Papadopoulos’ remarks to Australian diplomats regarding Russia’s offer of assistance to the Trump campaign. I mean, I didn’t have any doubts.”
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FBI agents dismissed Papadopoulos’ denial as “strange” and “rehearsal” without providing any evidence, according to the report.
“Indeed, one Crossfire Hurricane investigator repeated his assessment to the Department, saying Papadopoulos’ remarks were ‘weird’, rehearsed and therefore not real,” the report said. Says. “Similarly, another agent recalled explaining Papadopoulos’ remarks to FBI officials in an interview with the agency: [former FBI Deputy Director Andrew] McCabe said the remarks were deemed written to give the wrong impression. ”
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump (Getty Images)
Durham said in the report that “the exclusion of Papadopoulos’ remarks in the Page FISA application may have been sufficient to satisfy the negligence standard,” but “was not sufficient to bring criminal charges against the FBI or FBI officials.” claimed.
Read Durham’s report on the origins of the FBI’s Russian collusion investigation
Papadopoulos appeared on “Fox News Tonight”, praising Durham’s report as a “grave indictment” against U.S. intelligence and telling host Will Kane that years of evidence had been unfounded. He said he had to “scratch his head” over the country’s suffering over alleged Trump-Russia collusion. .
“I’m ecstatic,” he said. “My wife and I are celebrating all day today because it has not only hurt my image, it has also hurt the image of my wife who has been by my side throughout this entire story. So I’m a very lucky man’.
In this October 25, 2018 file photo, former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who sparked the Russia probe, arrives for his first court appearance before congressional investigators at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Custer)
In March 2016, as an aide to the Trump campaign focused on foreign policy, Papadopoulos met in London with Maltese language professor Joseph Mifsud, who said that the Russians were on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. He told the New York newspaper that he had the blemish in the form of potentially damaging emails. The Times reported in 2017.
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Papadopoulos then passed the new information on to Australian diplomat Alexander Downer, who reportedly reported Papadopoulos’ comments to the FBI. Papadopoulos was later charged in an investigation by former special counsel Robert Mueller for lying to investigators about the timing of his meeting with Mifsud and his knowledge of Mifsud’s Russian ties.
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty and ended up serving 12 days in prison, followed by 12 months of probation. He published a book the following year, Targeted by the Deep State: How I Caught the Crosshairs of the Plot to Overthrow President Trump, and was later pardoned by President Trump.
Brooke Singman and Yael Harron of FOX News contributed to this report.
