Indicted Trump Advisor George Papadopoulos Maintained Close Relationship with Sergei Millian, Source of the Infamous “Trump Dossier”
Sergei Millian (Left) and George Papadapolous (Right)
The man credited as a primary source of the dossier that foreign spy Christopher Steele was paid to produce for the DNC (and the FBI- which was later used as justification for FISA warrants), is buddies and Facebook friends with Papadopoulos, a volunteer adviser who repeatedly attempted (as loudly and noticeably as possible) to set up liaisons between the Trump campaign and Russian Officials between June and September.
From a March 29th Washington Post article:
The allegations by Millian — whose role was first reported by the Wall Street Journal and has been confirmed by The Washington Post — were central to the dossier compiled by the former spy, Christopher Steele. While the dossier has not been verified and its claims have been denied by Trump, Steele’s document said that Millian’s assertions had been corroborated by other sources, including in the Russian government and former intelligence sources.
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The dossier, decried by Trump as “phony stuff” and “fake news” and derided by Russian President Vladimir Putin as “rubbish,” consists of a series of reports compiled by Steele over the course of several months before the election.
Millian, identified in different portions of the dossier as “Source D” and “Source E,” is described as a “close associate of Trump.”
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Millian told several people that during the campaign and presidential transition he was in touch with George Papadopoulos, a campaign foreign policy adviser, according to a person familiar with the matter. Millian is among Papadopoulos’s nearly 240 Facebook friends.
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Millian told people last year that he was in touch with Papadopoulos, whom Trump had described in a March 2016 Washington Post editorial board interview as a member of his foreign policy team and an “excellent guy.”
Papadopoulos received attention during the campaign largely because of reports that he had exaggerated his résumé and cited among his accomplishments that he had participated in a Model United Nations program for college and graduate students.
But, according to foreign news reports and officials, he conducted a number of high-level meetings last year and presented himself as a representative of the Trump campaign. He told a group of researchers in Israel that Trump saw Putin as “a responsible actor and potential partner,” according to a column in the Jerusalem Post, while later he met with a British Foreign Office representative in London, an embassy spokesman said. He also criticized U.S. sanctions on Russia in an interview with the Russian news outlet Interfax.
Papadopoulos did not respond to questions about contacts with Millian. But Papadopoulos said by email that his public comments during the campaign reflected his own opinions and that some of his energy policy views run counter to Russian interests. “No one from the campaign ever directed me to discuss ‘talking points,’ ” he said. In a separate email, he accused The Post of relying on “innuendo” and “unsubstantiated claims by irrelevant sources.”
Papadopoulos joined Donald Trump’s presidential campaign as a foreign policy adviser last March, days after he began corresponding with a professor who had close ties to Russian officials. The 30-year-old campaign hand originally told federal authorities he hardly knew the professor and met him before joining the campaign.
Sanders has repeatedly tried to downplay Papadopoulos’ involvement in the campaign, saying on Tuesday he only met with Trump once during the 2016 election at a “meeting the advisory counsel put together.”
“This was a campaign volunteer, he wasn’t somebody who was a senior adviser. He played a minimal role,” she said.
A legal filing released by the special counsel investigation on Monday revealed Papadopoulos had repeatedly tried to organize meetings between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, often bringing his requests to the attention of various campaign staffers.
At the same time in 2016 Papadoplous is making attempts with his position in the Trump campaign, Millian is (also, loudly) proclaiming that he has all sorts of connections with Trump and the Trump campaign and publicly attempts to make connections with Russian officials, attempts which seemed to have fizzled out. Additionally in that WaPo article is a quote from Michael Cohen, Trump’s current personal lawyer, who outright accused Millian of attention-seeking after communicating with him via Twitter and email.
And, while all of this is happening and all of these attempts and connections are being made, during the same period in 2016 Steele just happens to be conducting the surveillance that later led to the formation of the “Trump Dossier”.
This dossier- partially funded by Hillary, The DNC, and the FBI- helped take shape thanks to a role played by Millian. Question is, was Papadoplous playing a roll as well?