Was he in touch with Cambridge Analytica over coordinating Trump's data analytics with the Russian propaganda/psyops machine? Maybe, maybe not.
What I'm doing is clearing away the men whose primary utility to Special Counsel Mueller will be reporting on what others did, rather than on what they did themselves. You'll find the latter group is very, very small indeed. And it matters.
(1) Russia is Trump's top national security priority.
(2) He's brought on one unqualified, suspect person (Page) due to his Kremlin ties, and another unqualified person (Papadopoulos) because he agreed to work on Russia and go abroad.
(3) Trump has negotiated terms with Paul Manafort—a washed-up politico who lives in Trump Tower and is known to have shady ties to Putin allies—to come aboard. Manafort says he'll work for free—which if Trump didn't know it for *sure* is a clear sign Manafort's in the game.
So Papadopoulos is *rewarded* for making contact with the Kremlin.
Who's on a campaign-sanctioned trip to Greece, after doing a scouting run to establish ties with Kammenos earlier in the month.
Who's a "low-level" Trump aide tasked with contacting the Kremlin.
1. Manafort (Genius)
2. Papadopoulos (Ambitious)
3. Page (Idiot)
And
1. Manafort (charged, refused to plead guilty)
2. Papadopoulos (charged, plead guilty)
3. Page (not charged)
No—he absolutely did not. He did it himself.
Three weeks after, he had Sessions negotiate sanctions with Kislyak.
And today we got proof Manafort tried to seal the deal in Summer '16. This is what went down—and Mueller knows it.