Here’s Why George Papadopoulos’ Guilty Plea Is Very Bad News for the White House

Former adviser admitted he lied to the FBI during the investigation into allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government.

(COMMONDREAMS) — On Monday, special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the ongoing probe into allegations that President Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election, unsealed documents revealing a campaign adviser admitted to lying to the FBI about his contact with Kremlin-connected individuals.

George Papadopoulos, a 30-year-old former foreign policy adviser who is believed to be cooperating with Mueller, was arrested in July and entered a guilty plea on Oct. 5. He confessed to misleading federal agents when he was initially interviewed in January, shortly after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, and before Mueller took over the investigation.

The Papadopoulos case could be an indication of what’s to come as the investigation continues. As journalist Jeremy Scahill noted, “snagging a campaign adviser like Papadopoulos can definitely lead to bigger fish.”

Snagging a campaign adviser like Papadopoulos can definitely lead to bigger fish. That’s the thing to watch for.

— jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) October 30, 2017

Papadopoulos was interviewed regarding his communication with an overseas professor with ties to the Russian government—who, according to the records released Monday, “had told him about the Russians possessing ‘dirt’ on then-candidate Hillary Clinton in the form of ‘thousands of emails"”—and a handful of other Russian nationals with connections to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Over a period of months, according to the statement of the offense, the former adviser “repeatedly sought to use the professor’s Russian connections in an effort to arrange a meeting between the campaign and Russian government officials.” The indictment claims that “through his false statements and omissions,” Papadopoulos “impeded the FBI’s ongoing investigation” into whether Trump campaign officials coordinated with the Russian government in attempts to influence the election.

In addition to the indictment signed by Mueller that was released Monday, CNN published an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint against Papadopoulos, detailing email exchanges between the former adviser and his Russian contacts as well as Papadopoulos’ efforts to conceal messages by shutting down a Facebook account after a February interview with the FBI.

News of Papadopoulos’ guilty plea followed reports on Monday that former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates were indicted on federal charges (they’ve pleaded not guilty to all charges). After the pair was ordered to surrender to federal authorities, Trump took to Twitter to declare, “there is NO COLLUSION!”

During a Monday afternoon press briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders continued to deny the allegations of the campaign’s collusion with Russia, and emphasized that Papadopoulos had an “extremely limited” role within the campaign, adding: “It was a volunteer position and again, no activity was ever done in an official capacity on behalf of the campaign in that regard.”

However, as Vox co-founder Ezra Klein wrote in a piece detailing what has been uncovered and shared with the public during the investigation so far, although the unsealed documents “don’t provide a ‘smoking gun’ proving collusion… they make it almost impossible to believe there wasn’t collusion between Trump’s operation and Russia.”

And as attorney Philip Rotner writes in a column for the Huffington Post on Monday, “Forget Manafort—The Big News is the Papdapoulos Plea Deal.”

“Unlike the Manafort indictment, the Papadopoulos guilty plea goes directly to the heart of the charge of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia,” argues Rotner. “Indeed, it establishes conclusively that the Trump campaign colluded with Russian representatives, although it remains unclear exactly which Trump campaign officials were involved. Remember that, unlike the charges against Manafort, which are likely to be contested, the charges against Papadopoulos have been admitted and stand as proven facts.”

Read the full Papadopoulos “statement of offense” below and the supporting affidavit here.

By Jessica Corbett / Creative Commons / Common Dreams / Report a typo

This article was chosen for republication based on the interest of our readers. Anti-Media republishes stories from a number of other independent news sources. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect Anti-Media editorial policy.

Federal Court Tosses Murder Conviction Of Ex-Blackwater Guard In 2007 Iraq Massacre

In a highly unusual decision sure to open old wounds among Iraqis and further prolong an already protracted legal saga, a US appeals court has thrown out the murder conviction of an ex-Blackwater security guard and ordered three co-defendants to be resentenced for their roles in the deadliest incident involving the controversial private security firm to date. The men were responsible for the September 16, 2007 Nisour Square shooting in Baghdad, which killed 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians and wounded 17 others, and threatened to inflame tensions at the height of what was an already bloody and volatile coalition occupation.

On Friday afternoon a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that Nicholas Slatten should be given a new trial which would allow for fresh testimony concerning his 2014 first-degree murder conviction. Among the four ex-Blackwater employees sentenced in the 2014 trial, Slatten was the only one convicted of murder as it was believed that he fired on the unarmed civilians first. The other three men - Evan Liberty, Paul Slough, and Dustin Heard - were each given 30-years for manslaughter and other related charges (Slatten had been given a life sentence). Friday"s decision also directed that the three men be given new sentences because it deemed the previous 30-year sentences to constitute "cruel and unusual punishment." However, Iraqi family members of the slain (who in some instances lost children) are sure to disagree.

Image source: The Real News

The event received broad international media attention at the time as Blackwater already had a reputation for heavy-handed and trigger happy tactics, and for being "above the law" as a private mercenary firm while operating in Iraq.

The firm, run by former Navy Seal Erik Prince - himself a shadowy figure subject of federal investigations and civil lawsuits - went through multiple name changes after what was dubbed the "Nisour Square Massacre". Prince"s company is currently called Academi and has been awarded hundreds of millions in contracts by the Pentagon, the CIA, and foreign governments since its 1997 founding. 

Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill authored the book Blackwater: The Rise of the World"s Most Powerful Mercenary Army and produced this documentary exploring the Nisour Square Massacre:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68jAnTh18TY

Friday"s appeals court decision hinged on the issue that the 2014 case found that Nicholas Slatten had fired first, which prompted the other Blackwater contractors in the four vehicle armored convoy to assume they were coming under attack. At the time the group was clearing a path as a US diplomatic escort (one of Blackwater"s primary roles in Iraq was protection of high level officials working out of Baghdad"s "Green Zone") and upon entering the heavily congested Nisour Square opened fire with heavy machine guns and grenade launchers indiscriminately killing men, women, and children. Numerous complaints had already plagued Blackwater in Iraq up to that point for their brazen disregard for Iraqis on roadways.

Slatten"s murder conviction was specifically for the first shooting death of a man in a white Kia which had stopped at the traffic circle and threatened to block the convoy"s movement. This had marked the beginning of the drawn out bloody and chaotic incident wherein the convoy expended hundreds of rounds of ammunition. The appeals court concluded:

The government"s case against Slatten hinged on his having fired the first shots, his animosity toward the Iraqis having led him to target the white Kia unprovoked.

The prior 2014 case tried the four defendants together, which meant that Slatten could not enter evidence based on testimony from his co-defendants. Friday"s decision allows for him to be retried separately in order to allow his colleagues to testify in his defense . While the specific co-defendant remains unnamed, the court acknowledged a previous statement issued by one of the three charged with manslaughter that it was he and not Slatten that was first to "engage and hit the driver."

"They kept pumping bullets into us" according to Iraqi testimony at the time. Aftermath of the Nisour Square Massacre. Image source: Al Jazeera.

Source: Defense One, based on official DoD numbers.

The 2014 convictions were met with mixed reactions in Iraq at the time. Friday"s ruling came down while it was night in Iraq, and it is likely to spark major protests in Baghdad as the news breaks over the weekend. Even after the US formally and "officially" pulled out of Iraq in December 2011 (though counter-terrorism personnel later advised anti-ISIL missions), tens of thousands of private US contractors remained.