Preident Donald Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday to once again blast special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe — and took steps to distance himself from George Papadopoulos, his former campaign foreign policy adviser who has now pleaded guilty to making false claims to the FBI.
“The Fake News is working overtime. As Paul Manaforts lawyer said, there was ‘no collusion’ and events mentioned took place long before he came to the campaign,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning.
“Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar,” he said of Papadopoulos, without specifying whether he himself was one of those people. “Check the DEMS!”
The Fake News is working overtime. As Paul Manaforts lawyer said, there was “no collusion” and events mentioned took place long before he…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2017
….came to the campaign. Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar. Check the DEMS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2017
Despite the tweets, Trump specifically named Papadopoulos as one of his foreign policy hands during an interview to the Washington Post back in 2016 and called him an “excellent guy.”
A 2016 photo of Trump and his campaign national security team also included Papadopoulos and was widely circulated by the campaign.
Here’s Papadopoulos, circled, at a meeting with Trump in March 2016.
Photo credit: The Trump campaignhttps://t.co/LrFAoSVf4C pic.twitter.com/f7vmifhosN
— Tom Namako (@TomNamako) October 30, 2017