Carlos Bastarache: jeff-sessions.jpg

Monday, 2 April 2018

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George Papadopoulos’ loose lips have struck again. In December, the world learned that the FBI’s probe into Trump campaign collusion with Russia occurred not because of Christopher Steele’s “golden showers” dossier but because former the Trump campaign advisor drunkenly rambled to an Australian diplomat about Russia having dirt on Hillary Clinton. The White House unsuccessfully tried to distance itself by calling Papadopoulos a “low-level volunteer” and “coffee boy,” yet that didn’t work, and once again, he’s reportedly boozed it up and spilled information on the Russia mess.

ThinkProgress has heard from a Chicago nightclub patron, computer engineer Jason Wilson, who says he bumped into Papadopoulos and his wife, Simona Mangiante, last Thursday night. Wilson and Papadopoulos (who was downing vodka) began talking in a friendly manner, and the latter reportedly revealed that Robert Mueller’s fireworks are “just getting started” regarding Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who Papadopoulos claimed “encouraged me” to rustle up information about Clinton’s hacked emails.

Well, Papadopoulos hasn’t gone on record regarding this alcohol-fueled conversation, but his wife is talking. Mangiante spoke with ThinkProgress and admitted that her husband talked with Wilson about the Russia probe, but she denies that he implicated Sessions:

Mangiante said that Papadopoulos talked with Wilson but insisted that he would not have discussed his interactions with Sessions because he is not allowed to discuss the details of the case. Asked to clarify whether it was Wilson’s account that was untrue or the underlying story about Sessions, Mangiante said the only thing she wanted to say on the record was “no comment.”

Mangiante called back later Sunday to say that she had talked to Papadopoulos and that he denied having shared any new details about the case with Wilson. “Those things also never happened,” she said. She did acknowledge that Papadapolous and Wilson were talking about the Russia investigation, however.

That’s not all. ThinkProgress also has a screencap of a Twitter direct message sent by Mangiante to Wilson. She told him that the conversation has created “a misunderstanding,” and that her husband wasn’t able to reveal anything on the Russia probe other than “what is already public.” This wouldn’t be the first time that Mangiante spoke up on behalf of George. In December, she spoke to ABC News to reveal that he was much more than a coffee boy for Trump, but now, she’s downplaying whatever her husband said while inebriated.

Certainly, Papadopoulos would be capable of telling an untruth — after all, he has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI — but it seems that his statements while boozed up have been consequential thus far. Did he truly implicate Jeff Sessions during a discussion at a Chicago nightclub? That remains to be seen, but if so, Robert Mueller probably already knows everything.

(Via ThinkProgress)