Exclusive: Papadopoulos Predicts How Mueller's Congressional Testimony Will Backfire on Dems
Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos believes House Democrats may rue the day former special counsel Robert Mueller testifies before Congress, arguing his appearance will allow Republicans to highlight the nefarious reason the Obama administration launched the Russia investigation.
“I think it’s going to actually backfire on the Democrats,” Papadopoulos told The Western Journal regarding Mueller’s planned July 17 testimony before the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees.
“The Democrats, as much as the rest of the country, were duped into what the Mueller Report and the Mueller investigation was really all about,” he said.
“[The investigators] were simply looking to cover up surveillance abuse of the Obama administration upon the Trump team.”
Papadopoulos was one of the central figures in the Department of Justice’s Russia investigation during the 2016 race, which Mueller took over in May 2017.
The New York Times reported later that year the FBI Russia’s inquiry into the Trump campaign began because Papadopoulos, under the influence of heavy drinking in London in May 2016, “made a startling revelation to Australia’s top diplomat in Britain,” Alexander Downer, that Russia had political dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Based on four unnamed “current and former Americans and foreign officials,” The Times related that Australian officials passed along this information supposedly obtained from Papadopoulos to their American counterparts two months later, after Wikileaks began publishing hacked Democratic Party.
Based on this “intelligence,” the FBI launched its Crossfire Hurricane investigation into the Trump campaign in July 2016.
Papadopoulos told The Western Journal the truth of what actually happened that night with Downer in London is far different than The Times’ account.
“I believe that that article was an example of a disinformation operation against the American public,” he said.
In his book, “Deep State Target,” Papadopoulos noted he had one drink during his short meeting with Downer and his Aussie colleague, Erika Thompson.
During the testy encounter which the Australians had requested, they both berated Papadopoulos and his work with the Trump campaign.
He wrote that he strongly rebuffed Downer when the diplomat suggested Trump’s team was working in coordination with Russia.
And contrary to what The Times reported, Papadopoulos has no memory of ever discussing whether the Russians might have damaging Clinton emails.
Strengthening Papadopoulos’ case, Mueller’s prosecutors unequivocally wrote in their report: “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
The Mueller report further pointed out multiple overtures were made to Trump campaign members to collude, but they did not.
Federal prosecutors did not charge Papadopoulos with anything related to colluding with Russians, but rather he pleaded guilty to making false statements to federal investigators.
He was sentenced to 14 days in prison last fall, but was released two days early for good behavior, according to the once campaign advisor.
Papadopoulos — who testified privately before a joint congressional task force last October looking into possible Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court application abuse by the DOJ — told The Western Journal that based on the questions Republican members, such as Reps. Mark Meadows of North Carolina and John Ratcliffe of Texas, asked him, they will be ready to press Mueller on the origins of the Russia probe.
“This was a cover-up job and the Republicans know it, and they’re going to ask the pertinent questions,” while the Democrats will try to put on a political show, he said.
Papadopoulos contended that Mueller will likely be forced to admit the Obama administration actively spied on the Trump campaign and worse employed foreign intelligence assets in the undertaking to circumvent U.S. law.
In addition to Downer, the American was also approached by other foreigner actors, including those from Italy and the United Kingdom.
“So, here’s just the reality of this situation,” he said. “No foreign governments, let alone European governments, which are usually allied governments, are going to be weaponizing intel assets of their own governments, to go after Americans, unless the U.S. government is prodding them to or instructing them to [take that action].”
In other words, Papadopoulos believes officials within the Obama administration’s intelligence community and Justice Department were the reason his life kept intersecting with foreign officials pushing him on the subject of Trump-Russia collusion.
The New York Times plastered on its front page last month that the FBI sent a young, reportedly attractive female investigator, who worked in conjunction with Stefan Halper, a bureau informant in Great Britain, to spy on Papadopoulos in September 2016.
Papadopoulos said these instances of the Obama administration spying are just a small part of the operation aimed at bringing down Trump.
He referred to a CBS interview with Attorney General William Barr late last month, during which he said that what he has learned about the origins of the Russia investigation so far is not adding up.
“Like many other people who are familiar with intelligence activities, I had a lot of questions about what was going on. I assumed I’d get answers when I went in [to the DOJ], and I have not gotten answers that are well satisfactory, and in fact probably have more questions, and that some of the facts that, that I’ve learned don’t hang together with the official explanations of what happened,” Barr said.
Asked to explain further, the attorney general responded, “That’s all I really will say. Things are just not jiving.”
Barr has appointed U.S. attorney John Durham to investigate the intelligence community’s and Justice Department’s activities in 2016 and early 2017 in relation to the Trump campaign, Fox News reported.
Papadopoulos thinks what is yet to be be revealed, through Durham’s investigation, the anticipated DOJ inspector general’s report and potentially Mueller’s testimony will “upend the narrative of the last two years, and it might actually result in new legislation, that results in oversight of the CIA and the FBI.”
He added, “That’s how grave of a consequence I think the testimony by Mueller might result in, if the right questions are asked of him and he’s forced to answer truthfully.”
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