2016 ELECTION/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Federal authorities had cornered the man they suspected could be part of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election — and they might have been more successful in their investigation in early 2017 if it had not been for George Papadopoulos, the special counsel alleged on Friday [8-17-18]. Special counsel prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence Papadopoulos to up to six months in prison, according to a court filing on Friday. The former Trump campaign staffer pleaded guilty last October to one count of lying to investigators over his interactions about the Trump campaign with foreign contacts who had connections to Russia. Papadopoulos lied to the FBI in January 2017 about his contact in London with Joseph Mifsud, identified in the filing as “the Professor.” Mifsud had told Papadopoulos the Russians had ‘dirt’ on Hillary Clinton. Federal authorities then found Mifsud in DC two weeks later, but allowed him to leave the country…Mifsud was not named in the court filing Friday night, but CNN learned the name of the mysterious ‘Professor’ after Papadopoulos’ guilty plea became public last year. Mifsud, who ‘has not returned to the United States’ since February 2017, has not been publicly charged with a crime. Papadopoulos’ initial interview with federal investigators in late January 2017 was months before the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller’s team said in their Friday filing that that early interview, part of a national security investigation, was ‘completely voluntary.’ Papadopoulos went with the agents from his home to the FBI office in Chicago to be interviewed for more than two hours, the filing said.”
–Katelyn Polantz, “Mueller’s team wants George Papadopoulos to spend 6 months in jail, says lying impeded investigation,” CNN Politic, CNN.com, August 17, 2018 10:40 pm