UK Edition
Revealed: London professor at centre of Trump-Russia collusion inquiry says: 'I have clear conscience'
A London professor was last night dragged into a special inquiry into Russian interference in the US presidential election over allegations the Kremlin had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate.
The inquiry claimed its first scalp when it emerged that a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign had pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators.
George Papadopoulos is now co-operating with authorities after being caught out misleading FBI agents over the timing of his contacts with a London professor with Russian connections.
The London professor is not named in the official court documents but the Telegraph can disclose his identity as Professor Joseph Mifsud, honorary director of the London Academy of Diplomacy, which is affiliated to the University of Stirling in Scotland.
Prof Mifsud confirmed he was the London professor described in the document drawn up by special counsel Robert Mueller but vehemently denied any wrongdoing. He told the Telegraph: “I have a clear conscience.”
In a day of dramatic developments, US prosecutors made public Papadopoulos’s guilty plea hours after they brought charges against Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, for money laundering and tax evasion.
Mr Manafort and his colleague Richard Gates were accused of secretly lobbying for a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party in return for tens of millions of dollars. They deny all charges.
Papadopoulos, who was living in London at the time, told the FBI that the UK-based professor had introduced him to “an individual in Moscow” with “connections to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs”.
Papadopoulos informed the investigators that the professor had told him at a meeting that “they [the Russians] have dirt on her [Mrs Clinton]”.
The US court documents said that Papadopoulos alleged that “they [the Russians] have thousands of emails”.
Papadopoulos was interviewed in January over his Russian links and then arrested in July after stepping off a plane in Washington DC for misleading investigators. He pleaded guilty at the start of the month after being caught out lying over the dates of his contacts with Prof Mifsud.
Papadopoulos had insisted initially that any communications with the professor and with a Russian contact had taken place prior to his appointment as a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign in March 2016. In fact the crucial meeting took place a month later in April.
But Prof Mifsud poured scorn on the FBI case, insisting he had no knowledge of any emails containing ‘dirt’ on Mrs Clinton.
His denial bolsters suggestions that Papadopoulos may have fabricated or at least exaggerated claims of his Russian connections to impress Trump campaign bosses back in the US.
Prof Mifsud said he had introduced Papadopoulos to the director of a Russian think tank because it was right for him - as one of Mr Trump’s then advisers - to understand better Russian foreign policy.
“We are academics,” said Prof Mifsud, “We work closely with everybody.”
He said he had also tried to set up Papadopoulos with experts linked to the European Union.
Prof Mifsud, a former official with Malta’s ministry of foreign affairs, confirmed some of the details of the inquiry - such as he met Papadopoulos at a meeting in Italy in March 2016 and ten days later in London.
But Prof Mifsud disputes the contents of the further crucial conversation said by the FBI to have taken place at a London hotel in April 2016.
According to the court document: “During this meeting, the Professor told defendant Papadopoulos that he had just returned from a trip to Moscow where he had met with high-level Russian government officials.
“The professor told defendant Papadopoulos that on that trip he (the Professor) learned that the Russians had obtained ‘dirt’ on then-candidate Clinton.”
Prof Mifsud told the Telegraph he was “upset” by the claims because they were “incredible”.
He also described as a “laughing stock” a suggestion in the report that he had introduced Papadopoulos to a “female Russian national” described as a relative of President Vladimir Putin. The FBI statement later asserts that the claim by Papadopoulos that the woman was a relative was not true.
Papadopouls also appeared to over-exaggerate the extent of his Russian contacts in messages to the Trump campaign, according to court documents. In one email sent to the Trump campaign Mr Papadopoulos says he has just been introduced to the Russian Ambassador in London. He has since admitted the pair never met.