Memo reveals Papadopoulos lie helped Mifsud avoid investigation

A sentencing memo from the United States Government has revealed that former Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos mislead the FBI and allowed the Maltese academic Joseph Mifsud to avoid proper questioning by investigators.

Sections of the memo read;

“The defendant also made false statements in an effort to minimize the extent and importance of his communications with the Professor, including by referring to the Professor as “a nothing” who was “just a guy . . . talk[ing] up connections or something,” even though the defendant understood the Professor to have substantial connections to high-level Russian government officials and that the Professor spoke with some of those officials in Moscow before telling the defendant about the “dirt.”

“And to further conceal his communications with the Professor, the defendant told yet another lie.

“The defendant’s lies to the FBI in January 2017 impeded the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Most immediately, those statements substantially hindered investigators’ ability to effectively question the Professor when the FBI located him in Washington, D.C. approximately two weeks after the defendant’s January 27, 2017 interview. The defendant’s lies undermined investigators’ ability to challenge the Professor or potentially detain or arrest him while he was still in the United States. The government understands that the Professor left the United States on February 11, 2017 and he has not returned to the United States since then.”

Mifsud  was the director of the London Academy of Diplomacy, whose degrees were validated by the University of Stirling.

Professor Mifsud has also been photographed at university events and has given lectures at the University. He was also listed as a “Professorial Teaching Fellow” on a University of Stirling staff page which has since been deleted.

It was revealed in 2017 that Mifsud was in communication with Papadopoulos while he was a part of the Trump campaign, and claimed that the Russians had ‘dirt’ on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Mifsud resigned from the University of Stirling in November of 2017, the method of his resignation is unknown.

Mifsud’s whereabouts are still unknown.

Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in October of 2017.

The information made known by the sentencing memo and information already known suggests that the FBI wanted to question Mifsud while he was employed by the University of Stirling, after he left the United States.

Brig has asked the University of Stirling for a comment.

Craig Munro helped contribute to this article