"he loved barbara very much." this is the man he was. i know he has gone on to join the love of his life, barbara, and their daughter robin. a truly honorable and gracious man has gone home to god. mr. president, i yield the floor. announcer: one day after being released from federal prison, george papadopoulos, former advisor on the trump presidential campaign, sat down for an interview, along with his life -- his wife. mr. cap annapolis just finished serving a two week sentence in connection with the russian investigation. this interview hosted by the american priority conference is just over an our. -- an hour. >> [indiscernible]

>> 123, 4 5 -- all right. all right, everyone, welcome to the american priority 2018 conference. honored guests are here. this is your first interview afterwards outside of the gates. and you made it through -- [laughter] and you made it through with your wife. so we are going to do this a little bit differently. i know a lot of people in the back in the mainstream media probably have questions, so if they have anything they want to ask and write it on a piece of paper, they can hand it to tom. george and i spoke and nothing is really off-limits. whatever people want to talk about, he is here to talk about. night,showed a film last thursday. i first heard about george's story from twitter. that is where i know most people, from twitter. if i don't read your twitter, i don't know that it happens. the cell phones are off.

we are here to have an open, freewheeling conversation about what happened and how you got here. before we get into the really deep stuff, how does it feel now that you are back? mr. papadopoulos: it is an honor to have the american priority conference host me. i feel at home here. i feel i am with family here. i have just been welcomed with open arms, and for me that means the world to me. because while i was not in prison for that long, it is still not a place anybody wants to spend even one minute, let alone 12 or 14 days, whenever i was in there. you are away from family and friends. you are away from the world and living in an underworld. i never thought in my life that it would have happened to me. toid not think it happened people working on presidential campaigns or transition teams, like i was, and really doing their best to help their country

and not ever looking to harm their country, like i never did. so i met interesting people. i saw it as an experience. and -- a good experience. and i will get into that later. mr. cernovich: let's talk about that, because i saw on your twitter, you tweeted a picture of him going in. i found that interesting. just so many layers where that is sort of the new way of with the outside world. this is what it was like, this is behind-the-scenes. how did you feel when you took that picture? what was going through your heart? >> first, thanks a lot for inviting me. it is really an honor to be here. for me, i felt defeated at this moment. i have been with george all along until i was there in this prison camp in wisconsin. my story is a story of loyalty and support. i gave him a voice when he did not have a voice.

i tried to share this dramatic moment in which i saw him walking there, head high, like he is. heroic abouthing him walking there, because i had been very vocal about my understanding of the situation. he has been the victim of a set up. the campaign of the president -- and i have been not only his wife and his support, but also a witness in the case. professor in a europe. i made it clear both with the fbi and the congress that -- ties to western intelligence. i was in the specific position in which i was. i married george in the middle of the investigation. i had to stand by by man.

[indiscernible] i felt defeated because i felt so much for this not to happen. mr. cernovich: you said two things that i don't want to push your boundaries or go anywhere appropriate, but did you say it felt erotic? did i hear that correctly? ms. mangiante: no, dramatic. [laughter] very dangerous times, ok. but for the record. mr. papadopoulos: some women like the tough guy image. mr. cernovich: i don't drag anybody -- ms. mangiante: i was attracted by this adventure. [laughter] , ok, doovich: i am like i ask her about that? did i hear it incorrectly? dramatic. ms. mangiante: you are reading my mind. mr. cernovich: but in the moment, you felt defeated. ms. mangiante: defeated, yeah.

because i knew he did not deserve in anyway to end up in this place. i know this is a complete fabrication. because i know george. if there is somebody farther from the russian collusion fantasy is george. they end up even creating the fantasy i am a russian agent. i say, this is my husband, i am the spy who loves him. [laughter] mr. cernovich: there is a lot going on, to the point of absurdity. i go to the russian turkish bathhouse on east 10th street in new york, so i always take a selfie. i am colluding with the russians. mr. papadopoulos: do you like russian food? if you are spotted at a russian house -- mr. cernovich: i like the palazzo. there really is a rare, kind of a weird xenophobia in a way. we are always told xenophobia is bad but now russians, we are supposed to be afraid of russians. it is actually quite bizarre.

what interests me about the drama is -- i don't think most people -- you read it in the headlines, but you don't really know what it says. two agents came over, interview view, everything is cozy. but what is it really like when you hear the door? mr. papadopoulos: i got a phone call as i am out of the shower and shave and. the same night -- the same day that they came to my house, i actually was going to be talking about joining the administration with certain contacts that i had. so it was a very awkward moment. i get a random call at 9:00 in the morning. i am shaving, i half naked in my am shower. oh, there is the fbi, we are outside your house. i say, fbi outside my house? what did i do? ok, that is no issue. they, in my house. they just basically started telling me, like they probably tell everyone, that you are

going to help national security and you are a very important person that we need to talk with and you are a patriot for coming to help us. i do love my country. i have a different view of the federal government now than i did probably a year and a half ago -- [laughter] mr. papadopoulos: when i was maybe younger, more naïve, whatever you want to call it. i went in, i put my suit on to match them because i thought it would be a professional encounter with federal agents. basically i get there and there is the excuse that they used to talk to me was a friend of mine in new york, who in my mind the person was not a friend, but it was a person who had reached out to me, sir ergei milian. steele guess part of the dossier or a source of the steele dossier. he was trying to set me up in various ways as well.

i can get into that later. and withinet there, five or six minutes of showing me a picture of sergei, they said we are not here to talk about him. i said, oh. two weeks before that, i remember one of his associates telling me he was working for the fbi. my mind was spinning. we just go off onto various topics, you know, about my ties to israel, which was about 80% of the conversation. if i was being cultivated by government officials, why i knew people in israel, why i knew people in the middle east. because actually that is where my professional background was. i have nothing to do with russia. that is why it is so bizarre that i fit into this character as -- i guess the epicenter of a russian conspiracy, when i have never traveled to russia, i have never knowingly met a russian official in my life, and i don't speak russian. but i have dealt in the middle

east a lot and in europe. so it was very confusing. and then they bring up, did you ever hear anything about emails? from a russian government source? i basically tell them no. but a maltese man, and this is public record now, told me x, y, and z. that the russians have thousands of hillary clinton's emails. at that moment, i thought i was telling the fbi that there was a strange man who had this information might have been working on behalf of russia, and you should certainly look into him, just like any patriotic american should do. later on, we find out from this man's own lawyer, my wife and girlfriend who knows him explains that he was never working for russia, he was working with russian intelligence and probably the cia, the fbi, and others. so my entire case essentially is built on this professor with the government tried to project and

portray falsely as a russian agent, but the whole time he was interacting with me for about a month or so in london, he was actually working on behalf of western intelligence. so given that foundation, that corrupt foundation around my case, led to numerous other incredibly bizarre strange meetings and encounters i had with other western intelligence sources. in my humble opinion, they were really after what i was doing in the middle east. possibly, i was viewed as a threat to certain goals and objectives of various governments, and that is why they really wanted to take me out. mr. cernovich: how long was the interview with the fbi? mr. papadopoulos: it was about an hour and a half. mr. cernovich: it was the only interview you had with them? mr. papadopoulos: no, i had subsequent interviews. i will never forget my subsequent interview where they

brought in the attorneys from the fbi to speak with me as well. i told them, this person told me about emails, but it seemed they were not interested in him. during my first interview and second interview, i was telling them, dismantled me the russians have emails, and they didn't care. it seems they were more interested in who did i tell in the campaign about emails not actually more about the source. so it was very bizarre, and i guess that is how my entire case started off on the wrong foot. mr. cernovich: how many interviews did you do with the fbi? mr. papadopoulos: i had three interviews initially. and then after my arrest at dulles, i had i think four or five. sessions with mueller. mr. cernovich: you had three interviews just with the fbi. were they recorded? mr. papadopoulos: i believe so. mr. cernovich: the first interview was just with the two agents and that is when they bring in the lawyers. was it intimidation?

did they steamroll you? thisay they warm you up -- is all very friendly, we are just going to chat, talk, and there is no fear and it. you always read people and say, why did they talk to the government? it is not like they kicked on the door with a battering ram. they come over, hey, let's have a conversation. was it like that with the other two interviews? mr. papadopoulos: this is why i am very happy to have this platform to actually finally explain this. i viewed the fbi as hostile to me about my ties to israel. actually, and that is something no one -- maybe probably no one in this room ever knew. mr. cernovich: what did they ask you specifically about israel? mr. papadopoulos: why do i know that diplomat? why was i traveling there? mr. cernovich: can you name names? specific people they ask you about? mr. papadopoulos: for example, certain ministers. i don't want to actually disclose their names because i have done with them in the past on confidential terms.

i was looking at them and saying, what is wrong with what i'm doing? i used to work in the energy industry, just so everyone understands what my background was. i have these connection to the companies doing business in israel and helping both american interests and israeli interests by making them energy independent and helping our coffers back home. viewed that wasn't favorably by certain elements of the obama administration. later on, i would find out that certain elements of the state department were keeping tabs on what i was up to. it was basically a long microscope i had on me for years up until that meeting. mr. cernovich: so you had been under surveillance before you worked on the campaign? mr. papadopoulos: that is my current understanding, yes. mr. cernovich: what i was

reading on the charging documents and everything -- there are these two sort of conflicting narratives. one is, well, he was just a nobody staffer, didn't know everything. then i read the documents and they say one month into the campaign, they were soliciting you. you have to pick a narrative. either he is a nobody and turned a nobody cares about, or there was something educated they should look into you more. that is what i found perplexing. mr. papadopoulos: that is a great segue into the strange meetings. mr. cernovich: what is the strange meeting? mr. papadopoulos: let's go through this chronologically. i am in london officially at the time i am appointed a campaign adviser, based on -- and actually i had been in touch with corey lewandowski in 2015. julymr. cernovich: how did you get in touch with them? mr. papadopoulos: just send him a message. i was working at the hudson institute in washington, d.c., a

think tank here, dealing with energy policy and the u.s. relationship with israel and egypt. i said, you know, i tired of the am establishment types. i love my mentors there, douglas fife, scooter libby, great guys. they really helped my political trajectory, i guess. but i just felt that this wasn't what represented america at that moment, especially after eight years of obama. and they would tell me -- because i said -- i was 28 years old at the time and i said, i want to join a campaign and i want to leave hudson, and i'm thinking about joining trump. they said, you are crazy. like everybody. [laughter] mr. cernovich: that -- mr. papadopoulos: back then, this was 2015. now it is a whole different game and they are all friends. but that was the general theme, that no scholar in a think tank or anybody in a mainstream outfit would be on the trump

campaign or even the ben carson campaign, and i joined both. and then they said, you should join ted cruz or somebody like that, and we have connections. i was not interested. i sent the message to corey. their outfit was three people at the time. he said, let's keep in touch, you have an interesting background. we kept in touch. i joined the ben carson campaign, and i left and went back to london. i reached out against the last time and said, am i going to join or not? we have been talking for eight months. then i finally joined. that is when things became very strange, immediately. in london, actually. mr. cernovich: let's define strange. mr. papadopoulos: i was working for a company in london named the london center for international law practice. it is basically -- ms. mangiante: cover up. [laughter] to make a long story short. mr. papadopoulos: we now, after myriad independent journalists and people like yourself and

others, have looked into this place, they understood it is some sort of front for western spooks, who just go in there and masquerade as scholars for some other reason. i had no idea. ms. mangiante: next question, what were you doing there? mr. papadopoulos: because you were introduced -- ms. mangiante: i was introduced by some political head of the socialist group in european parliament. he said, your experience is perfect to come and join our work center. i never understood what i was doing after two months. mr. cernovich: so they found you? explain that. i always like to hear the details. they found me. where were you, taking a jog? ms. mangiante: at a conference in the european parliament. he was fishing for talent. people with political

experience. little bit of connections. crowd but we young already [indiscernible] that was the crowd at london center. he said, your contract is about to expire and i have a great position for you in london. i love london. yeah, let's move from brussels to london. then all of the shady things started to happen. they took me to meetings about the sheiks talking about policies in dubai. i said, what does this have to do with my expertise in european union law? and they were inviting me to a secret symposium in tripoli. of course, that doesn't sound safe when you say you can't know what is going on but you have to go and fight for human rights. ok. you will never see the same person in the same room for two days. mr. cernovich: so you travel in,

you are flying discreetly, keeping a low profile? with them, i mean. ms. mangiante: i went to rome and i went to brussels. but i did not want to go to tripoli, i was scared to death. they did not want to tell me what it was about and wanted to send me to the middle east all the time. with him was as somebody who has ties with the italian government at a very high level and wanted to work in the middle east i never . i never understood why. they were so shady. the first time i did the interview for the job, i didn't know george. but they told me, you know, a guy that is more or less your same background is now advising the trump campaign. you should meet him. he started talking about george so much, and when he reached out to me on linkedin, i said, isn't that the guy?

mr. papadopoulos: this is the organization that introduced me. this is something that people -- like you mentioned, the competing narratives of food george papadopoulos is and how does he fit into this. my meetings with joseph smith whood, he is the guy told me about emails that got me into trouble. mr. cernovich: for those who don't know, to set the table for this because i guess not everyone knows, everyone who has been indicted is either a process crime -- so in his case they claim he lied to the fbi. they say he told him when he talked about the emails, that conversation had happened a month earlier and he was already on the campaign when he had talked about the emails, then approached about the emails. the issue was he claimed he lied to the fbi about that and it hindered their investigation. it is what is called a process crime, obstruction of justice. that is what they got him for.

there was no russian collusion or anything like that. when you read the documents, it is always, where were you in 2015? do you remember where you were in june or july? i don't really know. you were actually here. they know better than you before they ask the question. that is why they got him. the timeline is very important for that reason. mr. papadopoulos: basically, yeah. know, i amcompany leaving and going back to washington. i am out of london. i was tired of london, i wanted to get back into the u.s. i was getting bored there and i wanted to get back into politics here. they said, before you go, you have to come with us to rome. i said, why would you want me to go to run with you for a business trip as i am leaving to go back to the u.s.? i had never traveled to rome. i thought it was a three day minivacation on my way to see the vatican. what is the fountain, the famous found in? the trevi fountain.

i thought i would get some good food. the director of the company i was working for in london, which as i said now has been discovered to be something completely different than i thought it was, went to me and said, you need to meet this woman in london and she is going to explain a couple things to you. i meet her. didn't stand out at all. she was mid-50's, just seemed like an academic. later i found out she was a counsel for the fbi in the u.k. who also had a -- from what i -- had i could be wrong also a personal connection to mueller after 9/11. ok, and this was march of 2016. mr. cernovich: in rome, march 2016? mr. papadopoulos: i met her in london, where she was working for my company. she said, you should go to rome. why she came into my life to say that, i will explain what happened. i then go to rome to this

university named link campus. i thought it was a beautiful 17th-century, cathedral style university that probably no one has ever heard of. i certainly had never heard of it. except when i walked in there, director of -- the rector of the university was the former italian foreign minister. there was a symposium being held there with opposition leadership from libya at the time, which was a divided country. there were higher-ups in the policy and intelligence world. i said, ok, this is not a random university. now after i have done my duty lujan's and looked -- done my duty lujan's -- my due diligence and i looked into this place and probably others, we see that in 2000 -- in 2004 the cia held a symposium there. an article was written about it.

fbi agents go there and teach courses. basically it is a spook school for western intelligence. i did not know that, you are not supposed to know these things when you are being entrapped. [laughter] mr. papadopoulos: so my contact at the company in london told me, this is somebody you need to meet, joseph mifsud. he disappeared, and that is when my company director disappeared. joseph mifsud supposedly knew everything about me before i got there. he is like, so you are the guy joining the trump campaign. i said, yeah, who are you? i did not know who he was. i know the vietnamese prime minister, i know this guy, he presented himself as a man of the world who could connect me to every country you could imagine, including russia. trumpn't a secret that wanted some connection with

russia at the geopolitical level at that time. i said, let me take him with a grain of salt and actually see oft he can provide in terms connecting the campaign to various diplomats, both western and russia, just like my job description entailed me to do. he told me after meeting me in rome that he was profiling me. what is your religion? are you sympathetic to this party, to that country? it was more of a profile instead of a, hey, you are interesting and maybe we can work something out where i can help you and you can help me. it was more of a profile. but when you are 28 and you are not in the circles, you don't know what is happening until you look back. so -- mr. cernovich: and you feel important, too, if you are a young man meeting important people. mr. papadopoulos: well, you think they are important. but that is the point of intelligence. it is all fake. sometimes you shouldn't believe

everyone that you meet in those worlds. so i said to myself, ok, let's see what he can offer. i go back to my company in london as i am transitioning back to washington, and i speak to the director of the company in washington and he says, joseph mifsud is going to introduce you to the niece of vladimir putin. i said, what? within a week i am eating the niece of vladimir putin from a guy who has never been to russia, -- within a week i am meeting the niece of vladimir putin. from a guy who has never been to russia and never met a russian official, and now i meeting the am niece of the president of russia. i am on cloud nine. [laughter] mr. papadopoulos: basically, that company was in on it. there was some sort of game going on. i met him and vladimir putin's fake niece. [laughter] mr. papadopoulos: i don't know why he said neice. if i had just done a simple

google search -- this girl, whoever she was, there were rumors that she was just a wine store manager. [laughter] mr. papadopoulos: other people, like my friend dan, he said she was western intelligence, do, as part of an operation. i don't know. until the whole thing is these classified, -- the whole thing is declassified, we will never know. mr. cernovich: where did you meet her? mr. papadopoulos: we met her at a beautiful hotel with joseph mifsud. she barely spoke english. this is very important for everyone to understand why things became suspicious moving forward. barely speaks english, smiling, not contributing anything to the conversation about joseph mifsud and i. moving forward, she became whoever that person was i was talking to or writing to buy email. she wrote in fluent english. she became a so-called middle woman to the kremlin and the world.

and basically deflected joseph mifsud away and she became some kind of person i was close to. i said, ok, instead of dealing with the academic, i was dealing with vladimir putin's family. it would probably give me faster access, but that would never happen. this is why it became very strange, because she and mif write to me, the russian ambassador to london cap wait to meet you. at that time, i did want to meet with russian officials just understand what the relationship was. it was probably naïve on my part. mr. cernovich: everything now is being reprogrammed in terms of where it was at the time. nobody cared about russia. during the debates, obama ridiculed romney about the 1980's foreign policy act. now all of a sudden everything is nefarious. you are building a network, you

are a young man on the rise, young man in a hurry. mr. papadopoulos: that is exactly what it was. but then they never actually introduced me to any russian officials, they just kept writing that we were going to do this. that is when i started to feel suspicious. i remember i messaged whoever that person was, and i said, did i meet you in london? are you the same person? no response. so i stopped talking to whoever that was. i started to distance myself from joseph mifsud at that point, and i believe he began to realize -- or whoever was running him began to notice that. emailen he sent me a last , as far as i can remember how it went down. he said, i am returning from russia, let's have one more meeting in london. i said, ok. and that is when he drops this bomb on me, out of the blue, unsolicited. i had no idea what he wanted to talk to me about. it is like i am sitting here and you tell me you have a kilo of drugs. no one was expecting it. but that is how awkward and

random and this info was he just dropped on me. recent revelations and discovery that has come out that i can't yet disclose how i know where that there were transcripts of my meeting with this person. now, if he was a russian agent, why would the u.s. government have transcripts of this person, dropping this fake information on my lap and basically seeing what i was going to do with it? so after that meeting, that is when things get even stranger. mr. cernovich: but you had -- i want to stop there for a moment, because you had a pre-existing relationship with mifsud -- mr. papadopoulos: for about a month and a half. mr. cernovich: before you began working on the campaign? mr. papadopoulos: no, no. i met joseph mifsud in rome for the first time ever i guess two

days after i joined the campaign over a skype call, but my name had not gone public. i think everybody's name went public on march 21. i think i met him around march 12 or 13. mr. cernovich: did he know you were working the campaign? mr. papadopoulos: i think i told him. i said, it is nice to meet you, but we are probably not going to talk, i am leaving. so after mifsud drops this information on me, that is when london becomes a very strange city to me. that is when u.s. intelligence officials reach out to me from the embassy and start to question me and asked me -- mr. cernovich: what does that look like, though? because you lived it and what we are trying to do is tell the story. reaching out to you, what does that mean? they are calling you? how does that go about? mr. papadopoulos: let's backtrack. 26,mifsud meeting was able 2016. -- was april 26, 2016.

two or three days later, the times of london called the company i was working for. the times of london is london's most powerful newspaper. they said, we want to interview papadopoulos. i said that's fine. i talked to the campaign, they said, you should do it. i said, ok. i began to talk with them and that is when that sensationalized headline came out about -- at the time, the u.k. prime minister was essentially disparaging candidate trump, calling him an for his moron proposal of the muslim ban and other policy proposals. whether the u.k. liked it or not, there was a lot of support for that in this country. and that is why president trump -- or candidate trump was talking about it. and then he changed, he modified things, but as a candidate you just throw ideas out. nevertheless, it is not another government's business, especially an ally, to publicly disparage a candidate for any idea. basically, the times of london asked, do you think he should

apologize to candidate trump? i said something along the lines of, yes you should. the same night that happened, piers morgan calls me at 11:59 he said, did you read the headline in the times? i said, who are you? piers morgan, why are you calling me? how did you get my number? [laughter] mr. papadopoulos: he is like, i need you on my show at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. he has some show in england. i looked at the title, and it said trump campaign advisor demands apology from u.k. prime minister or risk the special relationship -- [laughter] or something that was just completely -- mr. cernovich: i call that your welcome to the jungle moment. [laughter] mr. papadopoulos: welcome to the jungle. half campaign hated me for it, hath love me for it. it was one of those kinds of things. i felt kind of good. i got a message from hope hicks, like don't worry, you are cool. i thought that meant trump likes

hicks wasuse hope dealing with trump at the time 24 hours a day, i think. so i was feeling confident, but after that interview, that is when i was being followed in london. i began to notice people likeing me that looked they could be british , tryingence, maybe cia to figure out what i am doing. two days after that, that is when the u.s. embassy reached out to me. i think they were cia. they were intelligence officials, either dia, cia, something like that. you never really know. i said, yeah, let's meet. i have no issue. i used to talk a lot with u.s. taches and u.s. military personnel in athens, tel aviv, these kinds of places. but this conversation started off on the wrong foot.

greek totarted talking me, the kind of show that i know your background, as a person who was dealing in athens with our military people. and the other guy was like, i know your energy business activities, because i had finished my thesis on some pipeline. so those two were sent by somebody to basically probe me about my activities, personal activities, who i was hanging out with in london, who i was dating, very strange questions. and then wanted to ingratiate themselves within the campaign, which i found incredibly bizarre. and what do i mean by ingratiate themselves? they wined and dined me as if i was marilyn monroe or some model. she would have deserved it, you know? [laughter] mr. papadopoulos: i just said, hey, if you want to spend $700 on wine and food, do it.

ms. mangiante: wine and dining. basically. mr. papadopoulos: you know, they are just pouring drinks and this, and i said, that's quite a lot of money to be spending for two government workers. they are not poor, but they are not millionaires, and i have never spent $700 on a dinner myself, and i am -- i have never seen it. and then i say, ok, i kind of want to distance myself now from these two guys. they are like, no, no, no, we want to join the campaign, essentially. i said, what do you mean, join the campaign? you are active-duty intelligence officials at the u.s. embassy in london, and you are sending me messages that you want to ingratiate yourself in the campaign, meet people and advise them and share knowledge. i was just a little cautious. mr. cernovich: do you remember their names? mr. papadopoulos: terrence dudley.

i think he is still at the embassy in london right now. and gregory becker. ms. mangiante: he left me a message two days ago. gregory becker. this is crazy. he wanted to get an update about the job situation. [laughter] mr. papadopoulos: i guess they are still following us. ms. mangiante: i forgot. it was like two days ago. mr. cernovich: tweet a screen cap of that out if you still have that. mr. papadopoulos: i didn't even know that. ms. mangiante: i forgot to tell you because you were in prison. [laughter] mr. papadopoulos: so, you know, by that point i was tired of being wined and dined by these two guys, and i did not like that they were really interested in the campaign stuff. and they told me then, yeah, but you know what? you need to meet our people in athens. our people meeting i guess some cia guys. i was like, why are they

introducing me as a campaign advisor to their associates at the embassy in athens? and then i think there was an email where they accidentally copied me on where they said, this is a subject of interest or something like that. i said, i hope that's not about me. it couldn't be about me, could it? but it was probably. so you had those guys. april 26, i get this bomb dropped on me about emails. two days later, the times of london comes into my life and we have this headline. two days after that, we have u.s. intelligence coming into my life. left,o days after they that is when the australian guy reaches out to me. and this is no random australian diplomat, just so everyone understands. mr. cernovich: we know now.

mr. papadopoulos: yeah, now we know. this is why it is my opinion that the investigation did not start on july 31, as the current narrative states. i think the investigation began probably in the beginning of march, april 2016, possibly before. downers' had met alex assistant in london in april of 2016, around the time when joseph mifsud and all these strange characters were in my life, and she was quite hostile. she basically said the australian government is not pleased with candidate trump, we are watching you very closely. he is a pariah. i said to myself, first of all, why am i meeting an australian diplomat? why are they reaching out to meet? i have nothing to do with australia. i don't think trump ever mentioned the word australia wants during the 2016 campaign. later we find out there is a five eyes intelligence -- i will

get to that, but one thing at a time. so she reaches out to me out of the blue in april 2016, asking me questions about trump, russia, everything, and just being quite hostile. then joseph mifsud drops this information on me -- i forgot about that. so first the australian eight -- australian diplomat comes into my life, then joseph mifsud, then the times of london, then u.s. intelligence. then after that, the same australian diplomat who i had met with before said hey, do you know my boss wants to meet you now? mr. cernovich: that's how easy it is to get caught up in obstruction of justice. because the earlier timeline did not match. just like that. you forget one detail and get one date wrong, that's it. ms. mangiante: interviewed for three hours by the fbi. mr. papadopoulos: yeah, she has been interviewed, subpoenaed. ms. mangiante: just from dating

george. explain that,os: because there is a lot of the personal element that we have never shared about what we have gone through since that first initial interview. mr. cernovich: that is what i want to hear. mr. papadopoulos: i think we can talk about these issues, but this is the stuff no one knows about, and i think simona can talk about that more. ms. mangiante: the second trip i did to chicago, when we were dating, i come off the flight from london to his home. two hours later, have an fbi agent knocking on his door, saying there was a subpoena from mueller. i was shocked. wasn't thatulos: the day i pled guilty? ms. mangiante: the day you pled guilty in washington. i was with his mother. he was in washington pleading

guilty, and i was with the fbi agents telling me, you have no option. either you go to washington, the interviewed by the grand jury, or you can come to the fbi headquarters in chicago. we can have a friendly conversation. and if we are happy with you, we will let you go. mr. papadopoulos: talk about trying to ruin my romance. [laughter] ms. mangiante: that was a separate time, i went to chicago. mr. papadopoulos: that was four months into dating. ms. mangiante: something like, they were telling the basically, don't ever come back to the united states. it was crazy. so i said, ok. i call mueller's office in washington, and this lawyer can't to me and said, we tell you what is the interview about, but you can go to chicago and meet the agent. i go to chicago. first i went to the embassy. they were like no, no, we have lawyers. you just go there, it is twofold.

i said, my boyfriend just pled guilty for lying to the fbi because of a mistake about the date. [laughter] ms. mangiante: so i just stood there and there are these two agents, asking me the most incredible questions about our personal intimacy, our personal lives. they want to know if i was a torce of -- sent by mifsud spy on him, if i was a spy in the united states. they made a spy movie. i remember i was fascinated, and asked, why are you so calm? i don't understand what is going on. and they asked me about mifsud, but not that much. more about my connection to the european union, our meetings, why you are coming here, getting in trouble. i shared all the information i had, and the next day they told

me, we are happy with your interview, thank you very much. mueller dropped off your subpoena. that is ok. i was very happy and i was like ok, i got it. after a while, 10 days later, i was boarding to my flight from chicago to rome. and while i was boarding, the same two agents that interviewed me stopped me and told me, hi. i was boarding my flight, so i was terrified that something had happened, they do not want me to flee the country. they said no, no, no, this is never said to anybody, but they delivered me a secret number, and they told me, use this number to communicate with us any information you have about george. and if anybody approached you in europe. they told me, are you planning to come back to the united states? i said yes, we got engaged. oh, you are getting engaged in this situation?

and then they asked me also during the interview, when you are under oath, they asked me, do you love george? mr. papadopoulos: we have a very unconventional relationship. ms. mangiante: i thought, if they find out i don't love them, i will go to -- don't love him, i will go to jail. [laughter] ms. mangiante: i am laughing about it, but i was terrified. and i remember, they told me a storm is about to come, be careful. i said, what storm is about to come? mr. cernovich: the fbi agents told you that? ms. mangiante: yeah, while i was boarding. saying don't come back, he is in trouble, leave him alone. one week later, they unsealed his address. that is the first time we saw george in the news. before i was going to chicago, i knew everything was going on, but nobody knew he would be arrested, that he had pled guilty. so it was the first one, and it was really intimidating.

basically the fbi coming to the airport was telling me, i know what you are doing, i know where you are going, i know the time of your flight. do you love george papadopoulos? ok. and then they asked me, do you want to marry george papadopoulos? i said, he did not propose yet. mr. cernovich: that is the irony of how people like you get caught up, because you don't know enough to be afraid of the fbi. i am terrified of the fbi. if i witnessed a crime and they said, we just want you to tell us what you witnessed, i would be like, i am getting a lawyer. i'm not getting this pin on me. it is a terrifying experience. ms. mangiante: they act friendly, let's just have a top, and then -- have a talk, and then you end up in jail. mr. papadopoulos: yes. that is a mistake people make. we need to be very, very conscientious and cautious before ever talking to them.

i read your stuff over and over again. i remember when it hit. a lot of the media, they play on people's ignorance. if you are a lawyer, yeah, they got him on a process crime. they would not have gotten you on obstruction of >> were they, after you pled guilty, you said you talk to miller's office four times. -- miller's office four times. you had the three interviews with the at the. and then you had to interviews with him. what were those like? run a through those? it's an ongoing mr. papadopoulos: investigation. i will be able to talk about it shortly. terms, context abroad, logan act violations. those into miss logan act from the 18th century, what did i do?

whose policy are -- am i undermining? am i talking to an egyptian diplomat or this guy, or a japanese diplomat. my experience, the one thing i feel culpable about saying, is i was more under scrutiny for helping trump when then actually for anything nefarious i did against my country if that makes sense. i hope maybe i was reading things wrong, but i don't think i was. 10% of theeven narrative was right about me and my connections to russia, just now, two weeks ago, a crazy person sent a letter to shipp saying i was dealing with russian business and all this activity. i was going to prison when this happens, and i found out it was just a crazy person, who wrote a

letter just to continue to fabricate this russian. blows my wife it away because she lives of me. i had a devil's bargain, that said it is time to write it -- a reduction piece on you. redemption? i don't even redemption. i am more popular than you. he said, you have to tell me everything about all the russia stuff. sean is like, these people really believe it. they believe it and i know they do because in my house, i have had the new yorker, der spiegel, l.a. times, politico. they want to work and they never talk about the process. they're like, oh yeah, they are regular people. a vast majority of journalists, ist is really dangerous part they sell it and they really do

believe that russia is controlling everything and it is making them lose their minds. mr. papadopoulos: do you know i found fascinating echo --? , the this fake narrative doors were closed for seven hours on capitol hill, joseph when public and said he was working for the fbi. i'm not saying he was, his lawyer was saying it. after that, there were reports that lipps now wants to testify to the senate. if he testifies to the senate, that would take a lot of a euphemism for a russian spy, to go in front of the senate and talk about his efforts to subvert democracy and hacked emails and help clinton. is something i guess this space, as they call it, is something i am really intrigued about, to see what joseph lipps,

does in testifying under oath to congress and what he has to say. all we know at this point is and there are transcripts that his lawyer is saying that when he was interacting with papadopoulos, he was under the guidance of western intelligence. which iis the case, don't understand why his lawyers would be lying about them, i represented by some of the top lawyers in this country, and there was no way that they would go public and lie about me. or create a fantasy around their client that doesn't make sense for no reason whatsoever. they could get sued. it is not a good look for any lawyer to do that. that is something i am very interested in seeing what happens. my understanding is there is an agreement, according to lipps' lawyer, that he has with the special counsel that he will speak freely once the investigation is over. that is something i am very intrigued to see what comes up. mr. cernovich: it's been a wild.

what is the -- a while. what is the one question your been asked that you never wanted to be asked? mr. papadopoulos: how did i get so lucky to have her marry mary p --. -- to have her marry me. mr. cernovich: how did you get so lucky to have her marry you. [applause] mr. papadopoulos: sometimes the politics gets boring or redundant. i'm in the middle of it and i bored of it. ms. magiante: [applause] [indiscernible] people think we are crazy. that is what love feels like. intense. mr. cernovich: the investigation is still rolling but, two years ago i predicted what would happen and what did happened. i said he will catch a lot of people's -- people and process crimes because people don't realize if you remember the date. that is not the headline. george papadopoulos and mr. numbers today by a month.

when you read the legal documents, you say, this is what they had on him? and the general public is ignorant about sentencing, and they say he only got two weeks, so he must have given them a bunch of information. and that is no, that is the guideline, six months. as a lawyer, it is a whatever. people lie to the fbi every day and get six months and that is egregious. and then they get spun into something crazy. do you get a lot of death threats? funny story.los: i started off as the darling of the left. myself, ildn't defend had narratives created for me. every day, and look, i'm not saying-- mr. cernovich: you are their patron saint. mr. papadopoulos: i was the patron saint about saying a

thing. without going public with my story. that for me, was frustrating. to see that happen, i was like him up my goodness, my entire for is crumbling before me, something that is possible to fit. back to the original point, i have never met a russian official in my life. how am i involved in this? earlier,e discussing [indiscernible] i remember they were asking about cooperating and being a patriot. they were talking about trump impeachment. i never said that. i never meant that. when went to fox news at this i said we want to set the record straight. have many people threatening

me. mr. cernovich: let's talk about that. tickets to that moment. -- take us to that moment. mr. cernovich: i was living in chicago. we were listening to people talking about george as the one who was talking to mueller about the trunk connection to russia. russia. connection to they were trying to extort from george information that he did not have. the question was obvious the same. what information does he have on the campaign on clinton? he never did it. that is why mueller was not happy with cooperation and that is why you recommended the sentencing -- why he recommended the sentencing. fox news invited me to talk, because he could not talk. i was his voice. i said, no, this is not correct.

has beenative distorted anyway to present a reality that it is not. once i talked on entrapment, and spy gate, i had all of america threatening me. journalists from the left, the same one that were writing news, it's winter may, trying to discredit me -- slandering me, trying to discredit me. they're saying i am not a lawyer, i am. it is not difficult to check that information in italy. many other things like that. i have these attacks that were very violent. they were all intended to undermine my credibility. they wanted me to prepare the field for what happened now today.

because now he can talk. mr. cernovich: there were the death threats from twitter too? ms. magiante: yes. they said they were going to kill me. mr. cernovich: this is the depth of insanity. my wife is italian, from them -- from italy, born and raised, she just happens to be blonde and blue-eyed. because of that, they call her russian. to fit another narrative. ms. magiante: they like it. mr. papadopoulos: i thought she was russian. before i looked into it i thought to was russian. they said she was russian. that is anoh, interesting plot twist. i hadn't realized this. , when've noticed is people in the media don't like death threats, it never gets supported. as a journalist ever asked you about death threats? ms. magiante: no. never. mr. papadopoulos: they won't.

ms. magiante: it is scary. i think every day, my count has been hacked, at least three times. i've had to make a new account, by the way. i can't take it any longer. that's one thing you do notice is that there are all these articles about anybody on the left gets a retweet it is a big story, but when the left makes death threats on people, you'll never read that. mr. papadopoulos: i have tough skin. even for me it is hard. thank goodness we have patriots like people in this room, and loving americans who, not only, and this is something i must say, has kept us afloat. financially, through helping us with gofundme, until we were able to work on other issues. other projects.

rememberpiritually, i -- morally, spiritually, i remember the day i was going to day.n, it was a hectic we got in a fight because of stress. you can understand. it's a chaotic day. any little thing happens, it is overblown. i was over -- i was upset and stressed. she was crying, and i was yelling. this is how i'm going to prison. i'm going to prison with my wife crying and a fight. i said, oh my goodness, this can't happen this way. however, as we were driving, to pastor froma houston, texas, had no idea who this man was, he knew who i was and he knew who simona was.

sister simona, can i pray for you? i said, yes. of course. we were given sitting together in the car. there was so much tension. the moment that gentleman got on the phone and started praying, for us, it naturally brought us together. you know? [applause] and thatopoulos: here, just thinking of it, i teared up in the car, god was in that car. god was with us. thats basically a eulogy light comes after the darkest. -- darkest period. miracle, i was able to

get out of today's of my present sentence, and i am here with everyone here. that prayer brought us together. i guess my wife -- kissed my wife. i held my head high and went into prison, into the unknown, with courage and strength. me, was one of the most beautiful experience -- beautiful moments of my life, and my marriage with my wife. mr. cernovich: on that note, one last question for you first and then you, what would you do differently if you can live your life differently? ms. magiante: i don't have many regrets. i never regret what i believe in. mistakes, but i think

even going back to this very difficult year, i would do it again and again. it has brought me the love of my life. [applause] mr. papadopoulos: this is why i am the luckiest man in the world and i'm going to prison. who can say that? i can, because of comments like that. is that the same question to me? i like her. i don't regret anything. i love politics. it gets me going. it's like an animal instinct. i just love it, and that is why it had all this activity around me -- maybe that is why i have had all of this activity around me. i like playing baseball. i probably would've liked to have played for the chicago cubs. but i don't regret my choice in politics. experience this

doesn't stop me from progressing in politics. i'm not the only -- oldest guy in the world. i've had some interesting experience, and i hope to continue. mr. cernovich: thank you. i hope you write more. thank you so much. mr. papadopoulos: thank you so much. [applause] mr. cernovich: i think it's over. alex told me i had to wrap it up. is that it? are we done? thank you so much. [applause] [inaudible]

[inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible]

[inaudible] >> you guys need to write a book. i just wrote a book called "nm make love great again."

we have to meet people that are so selfish. >> that's why people think i'm a spy. >> you are so loyal. >> that is exactly what it is. [inaudible] >> who is back this way? >> we have to move back here. >> thank you. >> hi. >> twitter. twitter. [inaudible] >> i got you. [inaudible] thank you so much.

>> thank you so much. >> i want to hear about this business deal you're working on? >> thank you. earlier today, on his way to the army-navy football game in philadelphia, president trump told reporters outside the white house that chief of staff john kelly would be leaving by the end of the year and that a replacement would be announced soon. he was also asked about the russia investigation. [inaudible] president trump: i am going now to the army-navy game. i think we're going to flip a coin, and i know both teams are going to do great. general mark milley, as you know, was appointed the head of the joint chiefs of staff, to be determined date, a little bit later in the year. they usually get a lot of notice for a lot of reasons.