Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos said he has no recollection of ever telling his campaign colleagues that Russia had damaging emails about rival Hillary Clinton, but he “can’t guarantee” he kept the secret either.
Papadopoulos was sentenced Friday to 14 days in prison for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign.
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Papadopoulos hedged when pressed on whether he told the campaign, first saying he “absolutely did not” tell his colleagues, then admitting he “might have.”
“As far as I remember, I absolutely did not share this information with anyone on the campaign,” Papadopoulos said. “I might have, but I have no recollection of doing so. I can’t guarantee. All I can say is, my memory is telling me that I never shared it with anyone on the campaign.”
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in October to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians and Russian intermediaries during the campaign.
He met in London with a Russian-linked professor, Joseph Mifsud, who claimed the Russians had thousands of emails that would be damaging to Hillary Clinton, during the 2016 campaign. Mifsud then introduced Papadopoulos to a Russian woman and a Russian national connected to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Papadopoulos communicated with the three over a period of months and discussed setting up a meeting between Russian officials and the Trump campaign.
Months after Papadopoulos was told the Russians had thousands of emails pertaining to Clinton, WikiLeaks released emails stolen from Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta and other Democratic officials in the months leading up to Election Day. An indictment from special counsel Robert Mueller alleges Russia stole thousands of emails and passed them along to WikiLeaks, who trickled out their release during the presidential campaign.
