Following the revelation that George Papadopoulos was lured to London by an FBI informant as part of a counterintelligence operation, the former Trump campaign adviser has been reflecting on several encounters he had during the 2016 campaign - two of which his wife says were "highly suspicious," reports Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller.
Papadopoulos' wife of three months, Simona Mangiante - an Italian national and former attorney in the European Parliament, told The Caller about an encounter George had with Belarusian-American businessman and onetime Russian government translator Sergei Millian, a central figure in the infamous Steele Dossier known as "Source D" and "Source E" whose whereabouts are unknown.
While it was previously reported in the New York Times that Millian approached Papadopoulos over LinkedIn "out of the blue" during the summer of 2016 to propose that he and Papadopoulos "form an energy-related business that would be financed by influential Russian billionaires," Simona tells the Daily Caller that Millian offered him $30,000 per month "while he worked inside the Trump administration."
Mr. Millian proposed that he and Mr. Papadopoulos form an energy-related business that would be financed by Russian billionaires “who are not under sanctions” and would “open all doors for us” at “any level all the way to the top.”
One billionaire, he said, wanted to explore the idea of opening a Trump-branded hotel in Moscow. “I know the president will distance himself from business, but his children might be interested,” he wrote. -NYT
Papadopoulos declined the offer.
“It looks to be one among a series of attempts to entrap George. The question today to me [is whether] these people are simply shady businessmen or are they part of a greater attempt to entrap George in illegal activity,” Mangiante, a former attorney in the European Parliament, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. -Daily Caller
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For the sake of posterity it should be noted that some have speculated (and still do) that Papadopoulos was a plant inside the Trump campaign, which would suggest he was in on the plan when he met with Millian and Cambridge professor Stefan Halper - and that his attorney wife of three months emerged from the shadows with a cover story.
For one such analysis, click the tweet below and scroll down:
1. I'm now convinced that Papadopoulos may be part of the Obama/Clinton gang & that his 'plea deal' with the Special Counsel, is as dodgy as hell.
Here's why. https://t.co/dED8wqJhPi
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According to The Caller, Papadopoulos and Millian first met around the same time that the FBI officially opened its counterintelligence operation against the Trump campaign, code-named "Crossfire Hurricane" - based on information given to US Intelligence through former Australian high...