Trump campaign aide pleads guilty to lying about his interactions with Russians

President Trump's former foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos, was charged with making false statements regarding his contact with a Russian "professor" who claimed he had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton during the campaign, it was revealed Monday. Papadopoulos was arrested in July, and reportedly has been cooperating with government officials since.

"Defendant Papadopoulos acknowledged that the professor had told him about the Russians possessing 'dirt' on then-candidate Hillary Clinton in the form of 'thousands of emails,' but stated multiple times that he learned that information prior to joining the [Trump] campaign," the charges read. "In truth and in fact, however, defendant Papadopoulos learned he would be an adviser to the campaign in early March, and met the professor on or about March 14, 2016; the professor only took interest in defendant Papadopoulos because of his status with the campaign; and the professor told defendant Papadopoulos about the 'thousands of emails' on or about April 26, 2016, when defendant Papadopoulos had been a foreign policy adviser to the campaign for over a month."

Papadopoulos has pled guilty to the charges, and the case was unsealed Monday. He had additionally told federal investigators that the professor was "a nothing" and "just a guy talk[ing] up connections or something," the charges add.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

President Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was also indicted Monday, although his charges are less directly related to allegations of collusion between the campaign and Russia. Read more about charges against Papadopoulos here.