As details around Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the alleged collusion between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russian government operatives seem to uncover more and more evidence by the day, the Washington Post has published emails that add a whole new piece of the story.
According to POLITICO:
‘European security officials say another set of meetings Papadopoulos held in Europe in the months before and after the 2016 election should alarm US investigators. That’s because the person with whom he met, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, is known to be close to Russian President Vladimir Putin — a relationship that goes beyond Greece’s traditional ties to Russia through the Eastern Orthodox Church and a growing relationship brought on by Greece’s economic collapse.’
While Trump does his best to malign the intelligence community in order to convince his rabid fan base that any evidence they present against him in the investigation is questionable and the result of political bias, these new details did not originate with U.S. intelligence. Rather, much like Papadopolos’s drunken confession to an Australian diplomat when he discussed the compromising emails against Hillary Clinton and the DNC that were illegally hacked, warnings came from other countries around concerns regarding these meetings.
Other Trump campaign and, later, administrative officials are also implicated in the emails obtained by the Washington Post.
‘Papadopoulos also was not the only Trump-connected figure who met Kammenos. Over the weekend of Trump’s inauguration, Kammenos was photographed at social events talking with incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus and Trump political adviser Steve Bannon. That was in contrast to Kammenos’s visit to Washington in 2015, when President Barack Obama’s secretary of defense, Ash Carter, canceled an already scheduled meeting with him. Photographs showing Priebus and Bannon with Kammenos were distributed by the Greek Defense Ministry.’
Kammenos has denied that any improper conversations took place. Everyone else involved, including Priebus, Bannon, and Papadopolous, have declined to comment on the story. Kammenos says that:
‘Greece wanted “to sign a government-to-government agreement with the USA for all rights to all energy fields offshore, strategic foothold in the Mediterranean and Balkans.” Bannon forwarded the email to Flynn and Flynn’s deputy, K.T. McFarland. Later that month, the Post reported, Flynn emailed Papadopoulos, urging him to “stay in touch, and, at some point, we should get together.”’
These details seem to negate every denial by Trump and his administration that they had absolutely no knowledge of any meetings with Russian government operatives. In fact, these details may be the best evidence of collusion yet available to the public.
Featured image via Getty/NurPhoto
