SHEPHARD SMITH (HOST): The president is downplaying the special counsel Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling and said that charges against his former campaign aides are -- tweeting, “The Fake News is working overtime. As Paul Manaforts (sic) lawyer said, there was 'no collusion' and events mentioned took place long before he came to the campaign. Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already been proven to be a liar. Check the DEMS!” Fact check: The charges against Paul Manafort actually stretch from 2006 to 2017, to this year. As for George Papadopoulos, he was brought on to the Trump campaign as a foreign policy adviser in early March of 2016 and was told at the time, according to the indictment, that the campaign sought better relations with Russia. Again, early March of last year. He then took a meeting almost immediately in Italy with a man who professed to have good relations or good connections with the Russians. On March the 21st of last year, the president identified him, himself, as one of his advisers on his foreign policy team during an interview with the editorial board of the Washington Post newspaper.
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Energy consultant. Excellent guy. That was March 21st of 2016. ... Ten days later, as we reported yesterday, the president sent by Instagram this photo of the group he called his national security meeting. We've circled George Papadopoulos there. According to the indictment, after that photo opportunity, Papadopoulos had multiple meetings with Russians in person, by Skype, and by email while in contact with campaign officials. Papadopoulos offered to set up a meeting between Trump and Putin. It didn't happen. In August of last year, a campaign official encouraged Papadopoulos to make a trip to Russia to meet with officials if feasible. He never did. Again, according to the indictment, on January 27 of this year, the FBI interviewed him. During that interview, he lied about the timing of his meetings with the Russians. He told the FBI he was not on the campaign team when those meetings happened. That was also a lie, to which he now admits. On July the 27th, the FBI arrested him. Then, 38 days later, he pleaded guilty. During all or part of those 38 days, he was, as it was described in the indictment, a “proactive cooperator” in the FBI investigation. And he's still cooperating.
