Declassified Mifsud interview docs weaken FBI claim on ‘Russian dirt’

The missing Maltese professor accused of alerting the Trump campaign to hacked emails containing “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, sent a string of denials about his Russian links to the FBI from his Stirling University email account.

Mifsud, the mysterious professor who ex-FBI Director James Comey referred to as a “Russian agent” in an op-ed, denied any advance knowledge that Russia had dirt on Hillary Clinton and told investigators he never made any offers to George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign strategist, according to newly released FBI documents.

The FBI released new documents relating to its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election, which include minutes of an interview and emails from Joseph Mifsud.

The documents show that the FBI first met Mifsud at a Washington DC hotel, where Mifsud identified Papadopoulos from a photo, whom he met in Rome back in 2016 at a Link Campus University conference.

Mifsud said he later met Papadopoulos, who was with Link Campus MBA student Olga Polenskaya, around September 2016, when the two had coffee in the UK together.

“There were no other persons, including foreign officials present. Mifsud did not believe Polenskaya was related to Vladimir Putin or any other Russian government officials… Mifsud described the meeting as happenstance.”

The FBI said in their minutes that Mifsud had said he had no advance knowledge that Russia was in possession of emails from the Democratic National Committee, and did not make any offers to Papadopoulos. “They spoke about cyber security and hacking as a larger issue. Papadopoulos must have misunderstood their conversation.”

Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation stated that Mifsud was the person who told Papadopoulos in April 2016 that Russians had “dirt” in the form of emails on Hillary Clinton that could damage her chances of becoming president.

Mifsud emerged as an improbable central figure in Mueller’s investigation in the 2016 US election, after former FBI director James Comey referred to him as a “Russian agent” – an allegation that Mifsud has denied.

Twitter user Techno Fog posted the FBI’s ‘302’ interview summary on Mifsud and pointed out that the 59-year-old professor told investigators he had “no advance knowledge Russia was in possession of emails from the Democratic National Committee and, therefore, did not make any offers or proffer any information” to Papadopoulos.

The Washington Examiner pointed out that Mifsud was never referred to as a Russian agent in the 448-page report and that the Mueller report only identified him as having connections within Russia.

Papadopoulos has said he believed Mifsud was acting as a Western agent to spy.

Reuters in 2019 pointed out that Mueller’s report claimed Mifsud became more interested in Papadopoulos after he took a job as an adviser on the campaign.

The report said that Mifsud, who has not been seen in public since 2017, told an Italian newspaper he never told Papadopoulos about the information on Clinton.