Repeated denials by George Papadopoulos about the Trump campaign’s alleged involvement in the Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee were never relayed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court despite being recorded by an FBI informant.
Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, was swept up in the FBI’s Russia-related Crossfire Hurricane counterintelligence investigation. Declassified documents, released last week, show denials Papadopoulos provided to FBI confidential human sources were never included in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants targeting Trump campaign associate Carter Page, an American citizen suspected of being a foreign agent for Russia but who was never charged with any wrongdoing.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s December report showed the FBI concealed significant information provided by confidential human source Stefan Halper — known as “Source 2.” Halper, 75, a Virginia resident and Cambridge professor, worked as an FBI informant in 2016 and had discussions with at least three Trump campaign members: Papadopoulos, Page, and Trump campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis.
Horowitz concluded the FBI “omitted” Papadopoulos’s recorded statements to Halper in September 2016 “denying that anyone associated with the Trump campaign was collaborating with Russia or with outside groups like Wikileaks.”
“This transcript is one of the most disturbing that has been publicly declassified thus far,” Papadopoulos tweeted on Friday. “It confirms that the U.K. government was in on the spying operation against me in London with Stefan Halper. For it to be declassified, clear the U.K. and other ‘allies’ will be exposed.”
During a lengthy conversation over drinks in London, Halper asked Papadopoulos whether the Trump campaign “had any idea” about “the hack” or “the DNC leaks.”
Papadopoulos said he did not. “No one has proven that the Russians actually did the hacking,” he stated while falsely claiming the FBI said the hacking was likely carried out by China, Singapore, or Israel.
Halper insisted help from WikiLeaks or the Russians “could be incredibly helpful” and “makes all the difference.”
“As a campaign, of course, we don’t advocate for this type of activity because at the end of the day, it’s illegal,” Papadopoulos said, adding it “compromises U.S. national security” and “sets a very bad precedent.” He said the campaign “does not advocate for this” and “does not support what is happening.” He said, “Our campaign is not reaching out to Wikileaks or to whoever it is to tell them please work with us, collaborate,” because they could end up “going to prison.”
Papadopoulos said collusion was “illegal” and “espionage is treason.” He added: “There’s been no collusion, and it’s going to remain that way.”
He also repeatedly brought up then-candidate Donald Trump’s summer 2016 comments about Russia, in which he said: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 [Clinton] emails that are missing.”
Papadopoulos said, “Of course he didn’t mean for them to actively engage in espionage.” He blamed the media for running with it anyway out of a desire to “use that as a tool” to advance the narrative that Trump was “a stooge” who would “permit the Russians to have carte blanche.”
Papadopoulos made similar collusion denials to a person dubbed “Source 3.” None of these denials were relayed to the FISA court.
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in October 2017 to making false statements to the FBI about his discussions with mysterious Maltese academic Joseph Mifsud, who he said informed him about possible Russian “dirt” on Clinton, and spent two weeks behind bars.
The FBI’s investigation was initiated in July 2016 and was later wrapped into special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. It reportedly began after Australian diplomat Alexander Downer met with Papadopoulos at London’s Kensington Wine Rooms in May 2016, where Papadopoulos said Russia had damaging information on Clinton. Months later, after WikiLeaks published stolen DNC emails, Australia informed the United States about what Papadopoulos said.
Horowitz said the FBI reimbursed Halper for the costs of Papadopoulos’s trip to London and paid Papadopoulos $3,000 for the research project Halper dangled to lure him there.
Three FBI agents traveled to London for the operation. The Crossfire Hurricane team told Horowitz they were “trying to recreate the conditions” that spurred Papadopoulos to spill to Downer. One agent told Horowitz that Papadopoulos might “feel a little freer to talk outside the confines of the United States and … repeat that conversation.” Another said it made sense to get Papadopoulos to “have a political discussion over a couple drinks and reproduce” the conversation. It didn’t work.
When Halper’s role as an FBI informant was leaked to the media in May 2018, it led to accusations from Trump and Republicans that the Obama administration used Halper to spy on the Trump campaign, dubbed “Spygate.”
Horowitz’s lengthy report last year criticized the Justice Department and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the FISA warrants for Page, and for the bureau’s reliance on British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s salacious and unverified dossier. Steele put his research together at the behest of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC through the Perkins Coie law firm.
Halper started off the Russia discussion with Papadopoulos by name-dropping high-level Russian military officials whose names appear misspelled in the FBI transcript.
“I have a lot of friends in Russia,” Halper said. “One of them is Slava Truvnikoff [actually “Vyacheslav Trubnikov”]. Do you know Truvnikoff? Truvnikoff was the director of KGB and the FSB.”
Halper told Papadopoulos: “I brought him to talk to [redacted] to talk to us about how their intelligence service works.” This was a likely reference to Halper’s Cambridge University seminars, at which Trubnikov was a speaker in 2012 and 2015.
“He was very forthcoming,” Halper said. “I mean, he’s retired now … He’s a private citizen, but he’s really plugged in. Knows a lot. And is very helpful in all kinds of ways … He’s like a real swordsman.”
Notes by State Department official Kathleen Kavalec following an October 2016 meeting with Steele show Steele told her Trubnikov was “involved” in a collusion effort between Trump and the Kremlin, with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort as the “go between.”
Mueller concluded the Russians interfered in the 2016 presidential election but did not establish any criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump’s campaign.
According to Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, Halper listed Trubnikov as “a consultant and advisor” for a 2015 paper Halper worked on for the Defense Department’s Office of Assessment. That Pentagon agency paid Halper tens of thousands of dollars over the years, and Grassley has pushed for answers on whether any of that money was used to help spy on the Trump campaign.
Halper also mentioned knowing “Yuri Traughtoff [actually “Yuri Tukharinov”] … who was a KGB officer who actually figured out a system to track American CIA agents around the world.” Halper also said he “developed a friendship with a really senior KGB general, a four-star general named Shebasheen,” who was “the architect of the Russian effort in Afghanistan.”
Papadopoulos said he didn’t know these Russians.
“My point is that the Russians can be very helpful to us at this time and we’ve got some great information coming out,” Halper said. “You know with stuff out of Wikileaks is really superb … I don’t know how they worked out the leaks from the Democratic National Committee.”
Papadopoulos seemed to reference a conspiracy theory about murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich, although it is heavily redacted.
“The conspiracy about the Clinton team and you know, you know the stories,” Papadopoulos said. “So …”
Halper quipped: “Chalk up another one for the Clintons.”
Papadopoulos said “no one knows” what Julian Assange would release. He said his “theory” was this was about “destabilizing the electoral process” and “undercutting the next president of the United States, regardless of who it’s going to be.”
