One Trump campaign adviser apparently seemed very keen to arrange Russia meetings

Trump in 2016
(Image credit: Darren Hauck/Getty Images)

In the spring and summer of 2016, starting right after then-candidate Donald Trump named his campaign's foreign advisory team in March, one of the new advisers, George Papadopoulos, began sending out emails indicating he was in contact with Russian officials who wanted to set up meetings with Trump, The Washington Post reported Monday night, citing excerpts from some of the 20,000 pages of emails and other documents the Trump campaign turned over to congressional investigators. Papadopoulos, the youngest of Trump's advisers, sent at least half a dozen such invitations through September, claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to meet with Trump as part of an effort to improve U.S.-Russian relations.

The reaction from Trump's other advisers was not enthusiastic, the Post reports, with campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis suggesting the team check with NATO allies first; adviser Charles Kubic, a retired Navy rear admiral, citing legal concerns; and chairman Paul Manafort rejecting a proposal in May that Trump travel to Russia. Still, "the internal resistance to Papadopoulos' requests is at odds with other overtures Trump allies were making toward Russia at the time, mostly at a more senior level of the campaign," the Post notes, giving some known examples. Papadopoulos did not explain in the emails read to the Post how it would benefit Trump to meet with Russian officials.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.