How the Russia Inquiry Began: A Campaign Aide, Drinks and Talk of Political Dirt

How the Russia Inquiry Began: A Campaign Aide, Drinks and Talk of Political Dirt
Stephen Miller, then a senior policy adviser to the campaign
and now a top White House aide, was eager for Mr. Papadopoulos to serve as a surrogate, someone who could publicize Mr. Trump’s foreign policy views without officially speaking for the campaign.
WASHINGTON — During a night of heavy drinking at an upscale London bar in May 2016, George Papadopoulos, a young foreign policy adviser to
the Trump campaign, made a startling revelation to Australia’s top diplomat in Britain: Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Mr. Papadopoulos, then an ambitious 28-year-old from Chicago, was working as an energy consultant in London when
the Trump campaign, desperate to create a foreign policy team, named him as an adviser in early March 2016.
He was hardly central to the daily running of the Trump campaign, yet Mr. Papadopoulos
continuously found ways to make himself useful to senior Trump advisers.
When Mr. Trump’s foreign policy team gathered for the first time at the end of March in Washington,
Mr. Papadopoulos said he had the contacts to set up a meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin.
Congress is investigating where he fits into the swirl of contacts with the Trump campaign, although
he has said he is unfairly being scrutinized only because of his support for Mr. Trump.
Mr. Clovis, the national campaign co-chairman, severely reprimanded Mr. Papadopoulos
for failing to clear his explosive comments with the campaign in advance.