George Papadopolous faces four years in jail and he's cooperating
The bigger news than the Manafort indictment today may be that Trump campaign advisor George Papadopolous pled guilty to making false statements to the FBI. The case had been under seal until today.
Papadopolous met with a professor who had substantial connections to Russian government officials regarding "thousands of emails" from Hilary Clinton. He went on to make efforts to arrange a meeting between the campaign and Russian government officials.
The Manafort charges are all about money laundering from events before the election but everything regarding Papadopolous is from the election. He even met a woman who was introduced as Putin's niece.
On or about April 26, 2016, defendant PAPADOPOULOS met the Professor for breakfast at a London hotel. During this meeting, the Professor told defendant PAPADOPOULOS that he had just returned from a trip to Moscow where he had met with highlevel Russian government officials. The Professor told defendant PAPADOPOULOS that on that trip he (the Professor) learned that the Russians had obtained "dirt" on then-candidate Clinton. The Professor told defendant PAPADOPOULOS, as defendant PAPADOPOULOS later described to the FBI, that "They [the Russians] have dirt on her"; "the Russians had emails of Clinton"; "they have thousands of emails."
That sure sounds like the Podesta file.
That Papadopolous is cooperating with Mueller. Ominously, the statement says:
"On July 27, 2017, defendant PAPADOPOULOS was arrested upon his arrival at Dulles International Airport. Following his arrest, defendant PAPADOPOULOS met with the Government on numerous occasions to provide information and answer questions."
The sentencing guideline, which calls for four years, also says:
"The Government agrees to bring to the Court's attention at sentencing the defendant's efforts to cooperate with the Government, on the condition that your client continues to respond and provide information regarding any and all matters as to which the Government deems relevant."
