Papadopoulos: “The Campaign Was Fully Aware Of What I Was Doing”

Former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos makes his first television appearance since being sentenced last week for lying to the F.B.I.  He told ABC News This Week that the Trump campaign was fully aware of his efforts to broker a meeting between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I actively sought to leverage my contacts with the professor to host this meeting,” Papadopoulos told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview on This Week. The campaign was fully aware what i was doing.”

Papadopoulos said he floated the idea of a pre-election summit to then campaign advisor Jeff Sessions who was “quite enthusiastic” to the idea.  Sessions has testified to Congress that he “pushed back” on the Trump-Putin proposal.

From ABC News:

“Papadopoulos’s comments are his first in public since being sentenced Friday to 14 days incarceration, one year of supervised release, 200 hours of community service and a $9,500 fine. He pleaded guilty in October to making false statements to FBI agents about his interactions with a Russian national and a Maltese professor believed to be an operative for the Russian government.”