Thread by @themarketswork

1) My Latest @EpochTimes Follow-up questions for Papadopoulos

This is not meant to be an attack on @GeorgePapa19

He appeared to be an IC target.

But a number of questions were raised.

A 2nd round by @dbongino would be fantastic.

Will be lengthy thread
theepochtimes.com/questions-for-…

2) Lot's of obvious questions about LCILP:

Who was it that hired Papadopoulos at LCILP.

What was the exact starting date of his employment?

How did Papadopoulos come to hear of this organization?

Did Papadopoulos have prior interaction with LCILP? Etc.

3) Who told Papadopoulos he needed to go to the Link Campus to meet Mifsud?

Was it LCILP Director & FBI legal counsel in the UK, Arvinder Sambei, as Papadopoulos seems to imply?

Was anyone else involved in process?

Who else was Papadopoulos introduced to while in Rome?

4) Olga Polonskaya:

When was it that Papadopoulos realized that she isn’t really Putin’s niece?

When did he find himself alarmed at her newfound fluency?

When he discovered the falsehood, did he ever question Mifsud or those at LCILP who vouched for her status?

5) In regards to Mifsud - Papa said he thought Mifsud was copying comments from Fox's Napolitano during 4-26-17 meeting.

1st reference I can find of Napolitano speaking of the Russians having Clinton’s emails is on May 9, 2016, during an interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly.

6) Papa said he distrusted Mifsud following April meeting.

Papa had 2 more known contacts 5/13 & 10/1.

If Papadopoulos distrusted Mifsud, why did he continue to communicate with Ivan Timofeev - official at state-sponsored think tank called Russian International Affairs Council.

7) One of the biggest questions is why Papadopoulos continuously allowed a seemingly endless sequence of questionable contacts to occur in the first place.

A parallel question exists: Did Papadopoulos inform anyone else—including the Trump campaign—of these recurring events?

8) Erika Thompson messaged Papadopoulos about Downer.

Thompson is an Australian intelligence officer and Downer's assistant.

Papadopoulos was previously introduced to Thompson by her boyfriend, an Israeli diplomat named Christian Cantor.

9) Downer “isn’t a random low-level Australian diplomat.

This man ran the equivalent of the CIA in Australia for 17 years.

He was the foreign minister and he was their biggest diplomat in London.”

Papadopoulos said he felt he was being recorded.

10) Papadopoulos:

“I also find it very strange that Downer wanted to meet ~10 days after Mifsud tells me this information. The whole thing seems very strange and very orchestrated.”

Given odd sequence of meetings, why did Papadopoulos accept?

Perhaps he felt he had no choice.

11) 2 meetings w/Sergei Millian:

1st Meeting - Papadopoulos said he thought Millian was recording him using his phone.

Millian contacted Papadopoulos in late September or early October 2016, and they met again.

12) Millian proposes suspect arrangement:

“I have a deal for you, for $30,000 a month, a great office in Manhattan, it’s simply PR for some ex-minister in Russia. But the qualifier is you have to work for Trump at same time—in his administration—and you can’t tell anybody.”

13) Papadopoulos said he told Millian, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m not interested and I think you should just leave.”

An appropriate response.

But again, why take the meeting in the first place, following the suspicions carried from the initial meeting?

14) Sept. 13, 2016, Papadopoulos meets w/Halper.

Papadopoulos met night before by Halper’s assistant, Azura Turk, “a Turkish national” who tried to "seduce me and get me to say things that aren’t true."

Does he bring this up with Halper? Cut meeting short?

15) Other significant events

FBI’s counterintel investigation opened on 7-31-16.

Reid sends 1st letter on 8-27-16, hinting at events.

Manafort resigned from Trump campaign 8-19-16

Clinton accused Russia of interfering on Sept. 5, one week before Papadopoulos–Halper meeting.

16) Why did Papadopoulos choose to meet with Halper?

Why was this meeting not canceled?

Why was it accepted in the first place?

A number of suspect meetings - Mifsud, Downer, Millian - had already taken place in previous months.

Papadopoulos had to be suspicious.

17) I agree with Papadopoulos' theory on Halper:

“Halper’s role was to cover for Downer, so that Downer would never be revealed as a source for this potential fake information.”

Papadopoulos appears to have given Halper nothing, but why go to London in the first place?

18) Same day as Halper meeting Papadopoulos had meeting with UK Foreign-Commonwealth officials.

One of these officials was Tobias Ellwood, “the No. 2 to Boris Johnson at the time.”

Details as to what was discussed at this meeting were not provided.

19) Papadopoulos said Elwood had been trying to meet with him “for months.”

Papadopoulos took a number of other meetings.

If Elwood wanted to meet with him, why didn’t this happen previously?

What was discussed at dinner - who was in attendance.

20) Papadopoulos’s meeting with Charles Tawil - perhaps the strangest of his many encounters.

Shortly after his 2nd FBI interview, Papadopoulos first met Charles Tawil:

“I had met this individual, I think, two weeks after the FBI had interviewed me.

21) Why would Papadopoulos take a meeting with an unknown individual 2 weeks after being interviewed by the FBI?

“As soon as I get there, he tells me, ‘Everyone can hear our conversation right now.’ And I started to feel very suspicious of what this guy was talking to me about.

22) In July 2017, Tawil sent an email to Papadopoulos, while he was in Mykonos with Simona Mangiante.

Tawil: “George, I want to come see you to finalize our business agreement.”

What business agreement? This was never elaborated on with regard to the initial meeting.

23) Papadopoulos describes Mykonos meeting:

“He starts talking strange to me and my girlfriend, basically asking if my girlfriend at the time was an operative, like he was.

And then he says, ‘It’s very important for you come to Israel, so we can finalize this agreement.’”

24) Again, what agreement?

Tawil identifies himself as an “operative” at this meeting.

Questions if Mangiante is an operative, as well.

Why would Papadopoulos continue to meet with someone who has identified himself as an operative—particularly following two FBI interviews?

25) Why was it imperative that Papadopoulos come to Israel—and why would Papadopoulos agree to do so?

He said he had no understanding of what was transpiring: “To this day, I never understood what on earth this person wanted to do, except set me up.”

26) Regardless, Papadopoulos does go to Israel.

In his version of events, the trip made an impact:

“[Tawil] puts me in a room with these ex-Israeli intelligence people...I knew I was being framed and entrapped. That’s not what I was supposed to be doing when I went to Israel.”

27) “As soon as that meeting ends, he takes me to a hotel, where I’m completely terrified. I was texting my girlfriend, ‘I think this guy is going to kill me.'

“He hands me $10,000 in U.S. $100 bills."

‘If I don’t take this money, this guy could possibly kill me.'

28) Papadopoulos said he flew back to Greece “a couple of days later.”

Why wait 2 days to leave Israel after that event?

Papadopoulos then contacted his lawyers, who were in Greece.

Did he previously have Greek representation - did he hire - provided?

29) Papadopoulos said he offered to return money at that point but offer was rebuffed by Tawil.

Was this on the advice of his Greek lawyers?

Papadopoulos reportedly said that Tawil later asked for money to be returned AFTER Papadopoulos was sentenced.

30) Papadopoulos has claimed the money was likely marked and offered to turn it over to congressional investigators.

If so, the sudden change of heart by Tawil makes sense, but why would Tawil wait until the point of sentencing to ask for the money’s return?

31) Tawil spoke to Scott Stedman, a reporter for Medium.

Tawil disputed Papadopoulos’s version of events: “I met him when he was out of a job and offered him a job and gave him, on his demand, a loan.

There may well be an agenda here - but some reconciling seems in order.

32) Papadopoulos left Greece “three or four days after that exchange,” leaving the money in possession of his Greek lawyers.

He also appears to have left his fiancee, Mangiante, in Greece.

Instead of flying to Chicago, he flew to Washington, where he was arrested by the FBI.

33) Was Papadopoulos told to leave Greece, and if so, by whom?

His Greek lawyers?

An official from the US?

A pre-established return? If so, why did Papadopoulos leave his fiancee behind?

Why did he fly into Dulles, as opposed to O’Hare? I believe Papa was living in Chicago.

34) Papadopoulos has proven fairly descriptive of most events, but his recollection of his arrest seems less clear (transcript in article).

Bongino: Did you fill that blue slip out—the customs slip?

P: I don’t remember, but all I know is I never got to passport control.

35) Bongino’s question on customs seems key.

Why was Papadopoulos arrested prior to going through customs?

If Tawil gave $10K to serve as an entrapment by Mueller why did the FBI arrest Papadopoulos before he crossed customs, since nothing would have been formally declared.

36) Papadopoulos’s agreement to cooperate with the government was reached swiftly—and with no attorney present.

Papadopoulos would later plead guilty to one count of lying to the FBI and was sentenced to 14 days in prison. Not yet served.

37) May 17, 2016 appointment of Mueller as special counsel shifted control of Russia investigation to Mueller from the FBI and Acting FBI Director McCabe.

Papadopoulos arrested on July 27, 2017.

Same day Mueller was informed by IG Horowitz of discovery of Strzok–Page texts.

38) July 28, 2017 - McCabe lied to IG Horowitz under oath regarding authorization of media leaking.

At this point, Horowitz knew McCabe was lying to him.

Papa went before court same day.

39) Above all, I would like to know what Papadopoulos discussed with Mueller team in the 24 hours following his arrest.

That discussion might hold key to unlocking answers to many ?

Papadopoulos has said little about Mueller and his team.

Perhaps he can’t legally do so.

40) One last thing: Papadopoulos has noted there was at least one spy in the Trump campaign.

Papadopoulos told us this person is known both to himself and to congressional investigators.

That person might be identified in Mueller’s coming report.

41) It's entirely possible that much of this can be explained as due to some combination of unintentional exaggeration and naivete.

Perhaps some confusion w/overlapping events.

But additional clarity and/or answers to at least some of these question would prove helpful.

42) A big thanks to @dbongino for handling this interview so well.

Unlike most interviewers, Dan allowed Papadopoulos to actually talk at length - without interruption.

The entire time-slot was filled with commentary from George. Thanks to him as well for doing it.

/End