WASHINGTON
— A professor with close ties to the Russian government told an adviser
to Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign in April 2016 that Moscow
had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails,”
according to court documents unsealed Monday.
The
adviser, George Papadopoulos, has pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I.
about that conversation. The plea represents the most explicit evidence
connecting the Trump campaign to the Russian government’s meddling in
last year’s election.
“They have dirt on her,” the professor told him, according to the documents. “They have thousands of emails.”
Read the Statement of Offense Against George Papadopoulos
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Mr.
Papadopoulos was quietly arrested in July and has since been
cooperating with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, records
show. Mr. Papadopoulos’s conversation in April raises more questions
about a meeting in June at Trump Tower, where Mr. Trump’s eldest son and
senior advisers met with Russians who were similarly promising damaging information on Mrs. Clinton.
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Taken
together, the meetings show that early in the presidential race, people
at the heart of Trump campaign and on its fringes were aware that
Russian government officials were trying to help Mr. Trump.
The
professor whom Mr. Papadopoulos met was not identified in court
documents. The professor introduced Mr. Papadopoulos to a woman
identified as a relative of the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin,
and to someone in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr.
Papadopoulos repeatedly tried to arrange a meeting between the Trump
campaign and Russian government officials, court records show.
“We
are all very excited by the possibility of a good relationship with Mr.
Trump,” the woman, who was not identified, told Mr. Papadopoulos in an
email.
Mr.
Papadopoulos told the F.B.I. in January that the professor was “a
nothing.” But Mr. Papadopoulos now acknowledges that he knew the
professor had “substantial connections to Russian government officials.”
Attempts to reach Mr. Papadopoulos on Monday were not successful.
The United States government has concluded that Russia hacked Democratic email accounts
and released thousands of embarrassing messages related to Mrs.
Clinton’s campaign. The emails began appearing online in the summer of
2016. The Trump campaign has repeatedly denied any inside knowledge
about that.
Mr.
Papadopoulos was one of a small group of foreign policy advisers that
Mr. Trump announced in March 2016. Another of the advisers, Carter Page,
has met with the F.B.I. about his own meetings with Russians.
The
plea was unsealed the same day Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign
chairman, and his longtime associate Rick Gates were indicted on charges of money laundering and conspiracy.
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