Joseph Mifsud and George Papadopoulos
Mifsud, a London-based professor and former Maltese diplomat, has long been suspected of deep ties to Russian intelligence. He is an elusive figure who has stayed out of the spotlight and is the subject of a letter Nunes, the House Intelligence Committee ranking member, sent to U.S. intelligence agencies and the State Department on Friday seeking relevant documents.
Nunes told Fox News on Sunday there were many questions that arose from special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, which his letter said "omits any mention of a wide range of contacts Mifsud had with Western political institutions and individuals," that still need to be answered.
"They can't even tell us who Joseph Mifsud is," he told host Maria Bartiromo, adding, "We believe he has ties to the State Department." He noted how in 2017 Mifsud attended an event at the U.S. Capitol hosted by Global Ties U.S., a nonprofit group that partners with the State Department and featured ambassadors and U.S. congressmen at the event.
Nunes' letter also has photographs of Mifsud in close proximity to Western officials at events hosted by Rome-based Link University Campus, where Mifsud taught.
Nunes letter to CIA, FBI, N... by on Scribd
Mueller's 448-page report, released last month with redactions, states that Mifsud traveled to Moscow in April 2016, after which he met Papadopoulos in London. It was at this meeting that Mifsud informed Papadopoulos that during his trip he learned that the Russians had "dirt" on Clinton, who served as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 and was President Trump's Democratic rival in the 2016 election. Papadopoulos later repeated this claim to Australian diplomat Alexander Downer, who informed the FBI and prompted the original counterintelligence investigation into Trump's campaign in July 2016.
Although Mueller's team portrayed Mifsud as a Russian asset with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Nunes said the team decided to"cherry pick" information from news reports, leaving out that he was described as a Western intelligence asset. "It seems like Mifsud has an awful lot of ties to U.S., British, and Italian intelligence services," Nunes said.
The FBI spoke with Mifsud in early February 2017, and believe he left the U.S. on Feb. 11. The FBI accused Papadopoulos of misleading the bureau about his communications with Mifsud in January 2017, which they alleged "undermined investigators' ability to challenge the Professor [Mifsud] or potentially detain or arrest him while he was still in the United States."
As part of Mueller's Russia investigation, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in October 2017 to making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Russians and served 12 days in prison late last year.
Papadopoulos, who also was contacted by FBI assets during the 2016 campaign, including informant Stefan Halper, now feels he could have been the target of entrapment.
Appearing on Fox News before Nunes, he said he got caught in a "perjury trap." He also said he is "pretty sure there are a lot of recordings and transcripts between myself and a lot of these assets and I'm very hopeful that these are going to get public soon."
Nunes said his letter to U.S. intelligence agencies and the State Department seeks "all of the underlying information," adding, "so if the FBI does in fact have transcripts of Papadopoulos talking to anyone, whether it's Mifsud, or Downer, or whoever, I think Congress and the American people have the right to know this."
In his letter, Nunes asks Central Intelligence Agency Director Gina Haspel, FBI Director Christopher Wray, National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to hand over all documents they have on Mifsud by May 10.
Daniel Chaitin is the breaking news editor for the Washington Examiner. He previously worked as a night editor and a web producer for the Examiner and was an associate editor for Federal Information and News Dispatch. He graduated from Penn State University and is from Rockville, Md.
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