The 3 wildest things we learned about Trump's former campaign advisor and Russia

Trump foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos has pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his contact with people close to the Russian government.
 By 
Colin Daileda
 on 
The 3 wildest things we learned about Trump's former campaign advisor and Russia
A small Russian flag bearing the word "Trump" was thrown by a protester as the president walked to a lunch with Senate Republicans on Oct. 24. Credit: AP/REX/Shutterstock

A lot of folks anticipated the indictment of former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort on Monday. But very few, if any, publicly predicted the (newly revealed) arrest of Trump foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos.

Papadopoulos has pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his contact with people close to the Russian government. He was arrested in July and has since worked with a special counsel led by former FBI Director Robert Mueller. The counsel is looking into relationships Trump and his associates may have had with Russian government officials.

We pulled out some of the wildest bits from the now-unsealed statement of offense against Papadopoulos, below.

He thought he met Putin's niece

In March, Papadopoulos met with a person referred to in the documents as the "Female Russian National." This woman evidently told Papadopoulos she was was related to Putin, and Papadopoulos described her as "Putin's niece," though she was not.

Papadopoulos seemed to know about the hacked emails related to Clinton before they were released

In late April of 2016, Papadopoulos met in London with someone referred to as the "professor." This person had "dirt" on then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton that included "thousands of emails."

He's been cooperating with Mueller since his arrest

Though it's unclear how Papadopoulos has cooperated with the special counsel investigation since he was arrested in July, the court documents describe him as an "proactive cooperator."

This puts the spotlight on any conversations Papadopoulos had with Trump administration and/or campaign officials after he was arrested, since, at that point, he may have been taking notes on behalf of investigators.

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Colin Daileda

Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.

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