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Former Italian prime minister Renzi threatens to sue one-time Trump aide George Papadopoulos
Source: Washington Post
Former Italian prime minister Renzi threatens to sue one-time Trump aide
By Chico Harlan
Oct. 4, 2019 at 8:08 p.m. EDT
Former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi on Friday threatened to sue a onetime campaign aide to President Trump who claimed that Renzi was part of a scheme, allegedly orchestrated by President Barack Obama, to undermine Trump’s candidacy in 2016.
In an interview with a right-wing Italian newspaper, the aide described a series of events — heavy on conspiracy — in which the very origins of the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the election began because Obama worked to plant a Maltese professor-turned-spy at a university in Rome. The aide, George Papadopoulos, said that “such an operation” could only have happened with Italian government knowledge, and that Renzi cooperated to carry out the “low blow” against Trump.
The accusation against Renzi, who was prime minister from 2014 until 2016, is not supported by evidence.
But it remains relevant, if only because Trump officials and advisers are increasingly pursuing aspects of Papadopoulos’s broader theory: namely, that the Maltese professor was in fact a Western intelligence plant. It was disclosed earlier this week that Attorney General William P. Barr had paid several personal visits to Italy, including one in late September, where he pushed Italians for information on U.S. election interference and its aftermath.
People familiar with the matter say Barr is particularly interested in the role of the professor, Joseph Mifsud, a murky figure whose allegiances have long been debated by the far right, and who has not surfaced publicly in two years.
-snip-
By Chico Harlan
Oct. 4, 2019 at 8:08 p.m. EDT
Former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi on Friday threatened to sue a onetime campaign aide to President Trump who claimed that Renzi was part of a scheme, allegedly orchestrated by President Barack Obama, to undermine Trump’s candidacy in 2016.
In an interview with a right-wing Italian newspaper, the aide described a series of events — heavy on conspiracy — in which the very origins of the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the election began because Obama worked to plant a Maltese professor-turned-spy at a university in Rome. The aide, George Papadopoulos, said that “such an operation” could only have happened with Italian government knowledge, and that Renzi cooperated to carry out the “low blow” against Trump.
The accusation against Renzi, who was prime minister from 2014 until 2016, is not supported by evidence.
But it remains relevant, if only because Trump officials and advisers are increasingly pursuing aspects of Papadopoulos’s broader theory: namely, that the Maltese professor was in fact a Western intelligence plant. It was disclosed earlier this week that Attorney General William P. Barr had paid several personal visits to Italy, including one in late September, where he pushed Italians for information on U.S. election interference and its aftermath.
People familiar with the matter say Barr is particularly interested in the role of the professor, Joseph Mifsud, a murky figure whose allegiances have long been debated by the far right, and who has not surfaced publicly in two years.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/former-italian-prime-minister-renzi-threatens-to-sue-one-time-trump-aide/2019/10/04/baa5dd50-e6ea-11e9-b0a6-3d03721b85ef_story.html
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