Former Trump adviser says Mueller targeted him for pro-Israel stance

George Papadopoulos maintains he was vilified for his dealings with Israel, not Russia.

By Deborah Fineblum, World Israel News

A former Trump campaign foreign policy advisor revealed that, counter to public opinion, he was grilled not for his purported dealings with Russia, but for his support of Israel.

In an interview aired Sunday on Israel’s Army Radio (Galei Tzahal), George Papadopoulos commented on the outcome of U.S. Attorney General William Barr’s investigation into the Mueller report, which concluded that President Donald Trump and his campaign were not improperly involved with Russia.

During the interview, Papadopoulos explained that he was on the list of those accused of having dealings with Russia, despite the fact that he “never met a single Russian official in [his] entire life, even on the Trump campaign.”

Instead, Papadopoulos claimed that his true so-called crime was his connection with Israel.

“What I was really targeted for by the Mueller team, these individuals had nothing to do with Russia,” he said. “It had to do with my work in Israel, my work as an energy lobbyist.”

To support this claim, Papadopoulos maintains that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team focused their questioning not on Russia, but solely on his work with Israel.

He described the report as “a total vindication for both the campaign, the transition team and the Trump administration. What I believe is going to happen now is this vindication is probably going to result in a new investigation into those who permitted this unlawful, unjust witch hunt, as the president calls it.”

While Papadopoulos endured the investigation and two weeks in prison for lying to the FBI, all of which he details in his book “Deep State Target: How I Got Caught in the Crosshairs of the Plot to Bring Down President Trump,” the ex-campaign strategist remains squarely in the president’s corner.

“I am a very big supporter of President Trump,” he told the interviewer. “I think his decisions to move the embassy to Jerusalem and acknowledge Israel’s right to the Golan Heights were incredibly important both from a strategic point of view, [and] also from a moral standpoint.”