Former Republican South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy stated that he is aware of potentially game-changing evidence in the FBI’s Russia probe regarding George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign adviser.
During a on Fox News interview on “Sunday Morning Futures,” Trey Gowdy indicated that he has seen FBI transcripts related to Papadopoulos that contain potentially exculpatory information on the question of possible collusion between the President Trump’s campaign and Russia.
“If the bureau’s going to send in an informant in, the informant’s going to be wired, and if the bureau is monitoring telephone calls, there’s going to be a transcript of that,” Trey Gowdy told host Maria Bartiromo.
“Some of us have been fortunate enough to know whether or not those transcripts exist. But they haven’t been made public, and I think one in particular is going — it has the potential to actually persuade people. Very little in this Russia probe I’m afraid is going to persuade people who hate Trump or love Trump. But there is some information in these transcripts that has the potential to be a game-changer if it’s ever made public.” He continued.
The FBI officially opened its counterintelligence investigation of President Trump’s campaign on July 31, 2016, after receiving information from the Australian government regarding Papadopoulos.
One top Australian diplomat, Alexander Downer, claimed that Papadopoulos told him on May 10, 2016, that he heard Russia might release information on Hillary Clinton close to the campaign.
As part of the investigation, the FBI used a longtime informant, Stefan Halper, to make contact with Papadopoulos. He paid Papadopoulos $3,000 and flew him to London in September 2016 under the guise of writing an academic paper on Mediterranean energy security issues.
Former Cambridge professor Stefan Halper was accompanied by a woman he said was his assistant. But the woman, who appeared under the alias Azra Turk, was actually a government investigator. During meetings in London, Papadopoulos claimed Halper and Turk asked him if he was involved in Russian efforts to obtain Clinton emails. Papadopoulos said he denied having any knowledge of the matter.
One month after Papadopoulos’s trip, the FBI obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant against Carter Page, another Trump aide. The surveillance warrant also mentioned Papadopoulos. It’s unclear if the application for the warrant includes any information gathered by Halper, who also established contact with Page.
Trey Gowdy, who served on the House Intelligence Committee, stated that he and Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe have seen the potentially exculpatory documents. He hopes the public will one day get to review it.
“If you have exculpatory information and you don’t share it with the court, that ain’t good. I’ve seen it, Johnny [Ratcliffe] has seen it. I’d love for your viewers to see it,” he said.
Fox News contributor Trey Gowdy dropped another potential bombshell in a Fox News interview earlier in May. He said that while he was in office, he saw an FBI spreadsheet that listed news articles and information from longtime Clinton crony Sidney Blumenthal as corroborating information for the Steele dossier.