Trump and allies dismiss Papadopoulos as the 'coffee boy'

Source: Politico | October 31, 2017 | Louis Nelson

The White House is fighting back against Mueller’s first wave of indictments against campaign aides.

President Donald Trump and his allies fought back Tuesday against special counsel Robert Mueller’s wave of indictments against former campaign aides, dismissing an ex-foreign policy adviser who cut a plea deal with prosecutors as a “liar” and nothing more than the “coffee boy.”

The White House was rocked on Monday after Mueller’s team went public with charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, another campaign aide, including money laundering and other crimes related to the pair’s relationship with pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine.

It was also revealed that prosecutors had struck a plea deal with George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser for the campaign who admitted to lying to the FBI regarding his interactions with Russia-linked contacts, including a promise of “thousands of emails” and “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.

Trump, who has so far been relatively restrained in his public response, on Tuesday morning cast the Manafort charges as a vindication, of sorts, for the campaign. He also belittled Papadopoulos, despite having called him “an excellent guy” to The Washington Post editorial board in March 2016.

“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,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar. Check the DEMS!”

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“The biggest story yesterday, the one that has the Dems in a dither, is Podesta running from his firm. What he know [sic] about Crooked Dems is earth shattering,” Trump wrote on Twitter later Tuesday, alluding to the departure of Tony Podesta, the brother of former Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, from his eponymously named lobbying firm. “He and his brother could Drain The Swamp, which would be yet another campaign promise fulfilled. Fake News weak!”

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Former Trump campaign officials and other allies also worked the morning TV news shows to downplay Papadopoulos’ role on the campaign and draw a line between the crimes allegedly committed by Manafort and Gates and their work on the campaign.

Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign aide, told CNN’s “New Day” that he was unaware of Manafort’s alleged crimes and did not know Papadopoulos at all.

“The leaders of the Washington office of the campaign didn’t even know who he was until his name appeared in the press. The guy was — he was the coffee boy,” Caputo said. “I mean, you might’ve called him a foreign policy analyst, but, in fact, you know, if he was going to wear a wire, all we’d know now is whether he prefers a caramel macchiato over a regular American coffee in conversations with his barista. He had nothing to do with the campaign.”

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