Former Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos’ guilty plea for making a false statement to the FBI brings the conversation surrounding Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into actions taken during the campaign.
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to making a false statement “about the timing, extent and nature of his relationships and interactions with certain foreign nationals whom he understood to have close connections with senior Russian government officials.”
Thomas Breen, Papadopoulos’ attorney, issued a statement declining to comment.
“We will have the opportunity to comment on George’s involvement when called upon by the court at a later date,” Breen said.
Here’s the background on Papadopoulos:
Foreign policy adviser
Papadopoulos graduated from college in 2009, before moving to London to get a master’s degree in security studies.
He worked for the Hudson Institute starting in 2011 in Washington as an unpaid intern, and has said he did work for the think tank through 2015, according to his LinkedIn account. The Hudson Institute said in a statement he subsequently provided research “on a contractual basis” to a senior fellow, but he was “never a salaried employee” and last worked for the Hudson fellow in 2014.
He was also briefly a foreign policy adviser to then-GOP presidential primary candidate Ben Carson – now Trump’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development – before he joined the Trump campaign.
He is currently an oil, gas and policy consultant, according to his LinkedIn page.
Papadopoulos was living in London when he joined the Trump campaign as an adviser in March, according to a 14-page statement of offense signed by Mueller released Monday.
Papadopoulos’ name first was raised in connection with the Trump campaign when Trump listed as one of his foreign policy advisers during a Washington Post editorial board interview.
A former Trump campaign official said Papadopoulos interacted with the campaign “a significant amount” during the 2016 election cycle.
“He was a foreign policy adviser,” the official said. But the official described Papadopoulos as an adviser who was in contact with the campaign staff via email and not a familiar face around Trump Tower.
This official said Papadopoulos exchanged emails “constantly” on foreign policy matters with the Trump team during the campaign. Still, this official placed Papadopoulos in the same category as Carter Page who felt more like a “hanger-on” to the campaign staff.
In September 2016, the Russian Interfax News Agency interviewed Papadopoulos, where he said that the election of Trump would “restore the trust” between the US and Russia.
He also argued that US sanctions against Russia over the annexa