Trump ‘listened With Interest’ To Papadopoulos’s Pitch On Putin Meeting
Donald Trump was there when Papadopoulos pitched Russia meeting to the campaign.
The Trump White House has spent the last day or so trying to distance Donald Trump from his former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, suggesting he was nothing more than a voluteer who got the coffee.
But here’s the thing – Donald Trump not just met with Papadopoulos but also listened to his pitch for a meeting with Putin.
According to a new report by The New York Times, on March 31, 2016, Donald Trump sat in campaign meeting and “listened with interest and asked questions of Mr. Papadopoulos” about the possibility of a Trump campaign meeting with Russians.
The New York Times report cites a former campaign staffer who said Trump “didn’t say yes, and he didn’t say no” to the potential of a Russia meeting.
Sam Clovis voiced concerns about the “optics” of a meeting with Putin.
And Trump asked questions of Papadopoulos’s plan.
Jeff Sessions could face issues over Congressional testimony
Another important tidbit from the New York Times report is that Jeff Sessions listed the pitch for a Putin meeting by Papadopoulos, and didn’t think it was a good idea to move forward.
As the report notes, “Finally, Mr. Sessions, as the campaign’s top national security official, spoke vehemently against the idea, asking others not to discuss it again. Mr. Trump did not challenge him, the former aide said.”
This might explain why Jeff Sessions has had so much trouble in his testimony to Congress over the last few months. It suggests he knew more than he let on during his testimony and even that he knew some members of the Trump campaign had suggested collusion with Russia.
Read the full report by the New York Times here.
