President Donald Trump did not dismiss the notion of meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin when it was put forward by George Papadopoulos, the former campaign foreign policy consultant who recently acknowledged he lied to the FBI about his contacts with people with connections to the Russian government, according to a new report.
Trump did not dismiss the suggestion immediately when brought up by Papadopoulos at a March 2016 meeting, CNN reports.
Here’s what you need to know:
The idea man: Papadopoulos was one of several former members of the Trump campaign who face charges as one of the purposes of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and other related matters. Earlier this week, court documents were unsealed that prove Papadopoulos admitted he lied to the FBI about interactions he had with foreign officials with ties to the Russian government. He acknowledged he tried to arrange sessions between awareness-raising campaigns and Russia through his contacts. When are you free? As noted in the court documents, Papadopoulos told the campaign that he” he had connects that could help arrange a session between then-candidate Trump and President Putin .” Trump’s response: CNN reported on Wednesday that when broached with the idea, Trump “didn’t say yes and he didn’t say no, ” according to information sources. The source declined to elaborate on Trump’s response to Papadopoulos.
