Tag: The Kensington Wine Rooms

“The witch-hunt is over,” Papadopoulos said. Declassification of surveillance material is paramount.” Alexander Downer's secret meeting with FBI led to Trump-Russia inquiry – report Read more Papadopoulos was one of Mueller’s first prosecutions. The 31-year-old from Chicago pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 14 days’ prison for lying to the FBI about his contact with Russian nationals and Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud. Downer, in an interview with The Australian newspaper last year, claimed Papadopoulos had told him Russia might use “damaging” material they had on Trump presidential rival Hillary Clinton in the lead-up to the election. Downer said he passed the information back to Canberra “the following day or a day or two”. Papadopoulos’s book, Deep State Target, will be released on Tuesday and details his account of dealings with Downer, Thompson, Trump and others. In September last year Trump wrote on Twitter “key allies” had asked him not to release classified FBI documents related to the probe into Russian influence. “While the (Mueller) report is likely mired in classified material, and most will likely never be revealed to the public, I do hope what is public is what Alexander Downer’s and Erika Thompson’s roles were and why Downer has become so protected,” Papadopoulos said. Downer, Thompson and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was contacted for comment on Papadopoulos’s claims. Downer has previously shrugged off Papadopoulos’s spying accusation, telling BBC radio last year: “I’m not going to get into these sort of allegations.”