Senate Intel wants to interview Joseph Mifsud, the mysterious professor linked to Papadopoulos

Chuck Ross, DCNF

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence remains interested in interviewing Joseph Mifsud, the mysterious Maltese professor linked to Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos.

An attorney for Republicans on the committee reached out to Mifsud’s attorney, Stephan Roh, on Oct. 24 in hopes of obtaining a voluntary interview with Mifsud, who has not been seen in public since last November, after Papadopoulos entered a plea deal with the special counsel’s office for lying to the FBI.

Roh, who is based in Switzerland, tells The Daily Caller News Foundation that Mifsud is aware of the Senate committee’s interview request. Roh says he has had indirect contact with Mifsud but has not seen the former diplomat since he visited Roh’s law offices in Zurich in May 2018, when Roh says Mifsud signed a power of attorney agreement.

Papadopoulos acknowledged in his plea deal that he lied about the timing and extent of his contacts with Mifsud. The pair met on March 14, 2016, just days after Papadopoulos joined the Trump campaign.

Their most significant encounter occurred on April 26, 2016 when Papadopoulos claims that Mifsud told him that the Russian government had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands” of her emails. Papadopoulos and Mifsud also discussed setting up meetings between the campaign and Russian government officials. Those attempts were unsuccessful, according to Papadopoulos and campaign emails.

Papadopoulos has not been accused of conspiring with Mifsud. He vehemently denies seeing, handling or disseminating Clinton emails, and has said he does not recall telling anyone on the Trump campaign about the documents.

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 07: A protester holds up a sign as former Trump Campaign aide George Papadopoulos arrives at the U.S. District Court for his sentencing hearing September 7, 2018 in Washington, DC. Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty last year for making a "materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statement" to investigators during FBI's probe of Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) — (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Senate Intel’s interest in Mifsud suggests that the committee continues to plug away at its investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government.

Roh says that he has encouraged Mifsud to cooperate with U.S. investigators, but he says that Mifsud told him he has been instructed to lay low until the completion of the Mueller investigation.

TheDCNF and other news organizations have been unable to confirm Roh’s claims about Mifsud. The special counsel’s office has argued in court filings that Papadopoulos’s false statements about his interactions with Mifsud “substantially hindered” investigators’ ability to “effectively question” Mifsud during an interview in Washington, D.C. in February 2017. Mifsud traveled to the U.S. at the invitation of the State Department.

Roh says that Mifsud vehemently denies that he mentioned Clinton emails in his meeting with Papadopoulos. He also denies that Mifsud is a Russian agent. Instead, he has worked closely with Western intelligence agencies.

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