Culture

Trump Calls George Papadopoulos A ‘Low Level Volunteer’ And A ‘Liar’ Despite Evidence To The Contrary

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Not long after his election campaign’s former communications advisor, Michael Caputo, claimed George Papadopoulos was nothing more than a “coffee boy,” President Trump entered the fray online with a series of tweets on Tuesday. Papadopoulos, himself a former foreign advisor to the Trump campaign, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during a previous interview in early October, according to an indictment unsealed on Monday. Before the day was done, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders downplayed Papadopoulos’s role, saying he was nothing more than a “volunteer.”

Tuesday morning, Trump echoed Sanders and Caputo’s sentiments in a string of tweets. “The Fake News is working overtime. As Paul Manaforts (sic) lawyer said, there was ‘no collusion’ and events mentioned took place long before he came to the campaign,” he claimed. “Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar. Check the DEMS!”

Charges against former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates were revealed the same day. Both men were also ordered to surrender themselves to federal authorities, which they willingly did. Soon after Monday’s news cycle was overwhelmed with Manafort and Gates’ legal woes, Trump immediately waded into the murk, falsely claiming Manafort’s wrongdoings happened long before the campaign. Before that, the president spent much of the weekend targeting Hillary Clinton and other Democrats for their alleged collusion with Russia to deflect attention from Robert Mueller’s investigation.

As for Trump’s claims regarding Papadopoulos, while he was “low level” compared to others, he was known among some of the campaign’s higher-ups. (After all, one of Trump’s own tweeted and Instagrammed photos proves this.) What’s more, he may have admitted to lying to the FBI, but that doesn’t necessarily mean everything the young ex-advisor has said is untruthful.

(Via New York Times)