REPORT: Papadopoulos Lied To FBI Out Of Loyalty To Trump, Didn’t Want To Contradict Him On Russia

ABC News reports:

George Papadopoulos, the Trump foreign policy aide who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, initially misled agents out of what he claimed was loyalty to President Donald Trump, according to a person with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Trump had publicly denied that there had been any contact between his campaign and Russian officials, and Papadopoulos did not want to contradict the official line, the source said. “It’s all fake news,” Trump said of any alleged connections in January. “It’s phony stuff. It didn’t happen.”