President Donald Trump's former campaign aide George Papadopoulos said Wednesday he was "shocked" and "horrified" when he was told the Russians had tens of thousands of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's emails and wanted to help Trump win the election.
However, when he told CNN "New Day" anchor John Berman he knew it was wrong that Russians had the information and "that's why I notified the FBI," Berman pointed out he did not tell the FBI what he knew until "they came and knocked on your door."
"In retrospect, I probably should have gone to some authority when this person told me this information," Papadopoulos told Berman. "But they thought it was a good idea I didn't speak to anyone because as they described in my book, this man is no Russian asset, he's no Russian agent, and it's quite obvious that he was working on behalf of western intelligence, and his lawyer has said the same."
He also rejected the idea he was embarrassed over hearing about Clinton's emails..
"I was shocked and horrified," he told Berman. "I thought this individual might have some sort of contacts with the Russians but he was well connected to the Europeans and Americans as well. When I volunteered the information about this person to the FBI in January . . ."
"You say you volunteered it," Berman interjected. 'They came to your house."
"But it was a voluntary interview," Papadopoulos said. "No one subpoenaed me. No one was bringing me to their office kicking and screaming. That's part of problem I had myself in. I should have had a lawyer, and I should have kicked and screamed a little more."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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