The White House moved Monday to put distance between President Trump and a campaign adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about dealings with Russia.
“It has nothing to do with the activities of the campaign. It has to do with his ability to tell the truth,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of the plea by George Papadopoulos.
According to the charges, Mr. Papadopoulos made false statements to the FBI about his interactions and relationships with Russian officials, including trying to set up meetings to gather dirt on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“He reached out and nothing happen after that,” Mrs. Sanders said of Mr. Papadopoulos. “It shows his importance within the campaign and that he didn’t coordinate anything in the campaign.”
Mrs. Sanders described Mr. Papadopoulos as a minor figure in the Trump campaign. She said he was a volunteer member of the foreign policy advisory committee that met only one time.
“Any actions that he took would have been on his own,” she said.
The plea by Mr. Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser to the campaign, coupled with a 12-count indictment against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his business partner Rick Gates, added momentum to special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s Russian probe.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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