Former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos told Hill.TV’s “Rising” on Friday that he has no regrets about working for the Trump campaign.
“I wouldn’t change a thing,” Papadopoulos told hosts Jamal Simmons, and Shermichael Singleton. “I think the 2016 election was a historic moment. It was a monumental event in, I think global history, and it obviously changed modern political history in the United States and certainly around the world.”
“I think the Trump presidency, you’ll see the effects of it in trade, security, basically in social issues,” he added.
Papadopoulos served 12 days of a two-week prison sentence last year for lying to FBI agents about his contact with individuals linked to Russia during the 2016 campaign. The charges arose from special counsel Robert Muller’s investigation into Russian election interference, which concluded last week.
After the charges against him were announced, President Trump and allies have dismissed Papadopoulos as a low-level volunteer or a coffee boy.
Papadopoulos originally came under scrutiny by investigators after he bragged to an Australian diplomat that the Russians had dirt on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the form of emails.
When pressed by Singleton on if he was sorry about how the situation has tarnished his reputation or how it may have harmed his loved ones, he said he still did not regret taking the position on the campaign because so much of the information that was put out about him was false.
“I can’t say that I regret it because, like I said in the beginning of this, so much of the information about me was fake, and now that I’m allowed to actually speak for the first time using my own words, and I wrote a book that allows the readers to understand how I got from A to Z, and how the world got from A to Z,” he said, referring to “Deep State Target: How I Got Caught in the Crosshairs of the Plot to Bring Down President Trump.”
“I can’t say that I regret it because fortunately, it was basically a manufactured investigation that I think my book will act as a roadmap to lead another investigation into those who committed actually treasonous acts into American citizens and the president himself,” Papadopoulos continued.
The Justice Department says that Mueller’s probe concluded with no accusations of conspiracy or collusion against Trump, who has declared it gives him “total exoneration.”
— Julia Manchester
