Western ‘plot’ to stop Trump, says ex-aide Papadopoulos

A Trump campaign aide believes Australia was drawn into a broader Western conspiracy to discredit the Trump campaign.

Former Trump aide George Papadopoulos with his wife Simona Mangiante in Los Angeles yesterday. Picture: Danny Moloshok

Donald Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos believes Australia was drawn into a broader Western intelligence conspiracy to discredit the Trump campaign and that diplomats recently implored the US President to suppress FBI reports that could reflect unfavourably on Australian activity in the lead-up to the 2016 US election.

On the eve of serving 10 days in jail, Mr Papadopoulos told The Australian of how he thought his life was finished after he was ­accused of lying to the FBI, but he was now so encouraged by American public support that he wanted to run for congress, repre­senting Orange County in Los Angeles at the 2020 election.

It has been well documented that Mr Papadopoulos met Australia’s then high commissioner to the United Kingdom, Alexander Downer, on May 10, 2016, at the Kensington Wine Rooms in London. Mr Downer says Mr Papa­dopoulos told him the Russians might use material they had on Hillary Clinton in the lead-up to the election, which might be damaging.

That information was sub­sequently passed on to the Americans, sparking the Mueller inquiry.

For the first time, Mr Papadopoulos, 31, has given his recollection of that meeting, which had come about after an initial social contact through Israeli diplomat Christian Cantor and his girlfriend, Australian diplomat Erika Thompson. Mr Papadopoulos said Australian officials had “implored’’ Mr Trump not to unseal classified FBI documents known as FISAs (foreign intelligence surveillance act warrants). He ­believes information in the warrants, which is known to the President and congress, could reveal how Australia didn’t want Mr Trump to win the election.

“We don’t want what happened in 2016 to harm Australia’s relationship with the US, but we want to make sure it doesn’t happen again,’’ he said.

In late September, Mr Trump reversed a decision he made two days earlier to publish certain classified FBI documents because it might have a perceived negative impact on the Robert Mueller Russia probe.

Mr Trump added: “Also, key ­allies called to ask not to release.’’

When Mr Papadopoulos first met Ms Thompson, he recalled how she was negative towards Mr Trump, calling him a pariah.

He said she then turned to Mr Cantor and joked that perhaps ­Israel was the pariah too.

Mr Papadopoulos, who had been an energy security analyst with the Trump campaign and transition team, had extensive background in energy markets and had worked for the Hudson Institute, promoting Egypt’s ties to Israel and potential energy ­supplies from Greece and Cyprus ahead of the Obama admin­istration’s then preference of ­Turkey.

He said he thought it strange when Ms Thompson emailed him to say Australia’s top diplomat wanted to talk with him, especially as Mr Trump had not mentioned Australia in his campaign at all. But Mr Trump had harsh opinions on Brexit. A DFAT spokesman said: “The Australian government does not comment on active ­investigations.”

Mr Papadopoulos said Mr Downer was “hostile’’ in the Kensington meeting, aggressively rebuking him almost quicker than the barman could pour the gin and tonic. He can’t remember talking about Russia to Mr Downer, even though he did discuss the Russian emails with the Greek foreign secretary two weeks later and remembered his shocked reaction.

“I don’t think Alexander ­Downer was there to discuss Australia’s interests, he was there to talk about British interests more so than Australia, that’s for sure — the conversation just dealt with ­British interests, not Australia,’’ Mr Papadopoulos said.

Mr Downer told The Australian last night: “I had a witness at the meeting, I am not alone, and I ­always take someone in case someone makes preposterous statements.’’

As soon as Mr Papadopoulos entered the wine bar, he said Mr Downer turned to him frostily and said: “Tell your boss he needs to leave my friend David Cameron alone, and you should leave him alone too.’’

Mr Papadopoulos sat stunned before retorting: “I don’t know what you are talking about; no one is bothering your boss. In fact your friend David Cameron should show respect to the man who is likely to be the next US president.’’

According to Mr Papadop­oulos, Mr Downer then did something very odd. He pulled out his phone and held it directly in front of Mr Papadopoulos’s face. “He … looks at me stone cold, like ‘I am here to get you’,’’ he said. He believed Mr Downer was perhaps recording the conversation and then taping his face to prove his identity. “This happened four times, holding up the phone,’’ he said.

Mr Papadopoulos said Mr Downer told him he was connected to British intelligence company Hakluyt, started by former British intelligence officers.

Mr Downer was an advisory board member for six years and apparently still maintains contact.

Mr Papadopoulos said: “It was a very unpleasant meeting; I left (it) shaking my head — I was just disappointed, I guess.”

The two crossed paths in mid-May at the Israeli independence gala at the embassy on Edgeware Road and reluctantly shook hands. Said Mr Papadopoulos: “He just grimaced and didn’t say a word.”

Mr Papadopoulos said he can dream of a career in congress because his conviction was for lying about the dates of meetings with a person and was still the subject of legal challenge that might stay the jail term. The FBI investigation, he said, showed he had not acted against America’s interests and so did not preclude him from running as a political candidate.