Italy's Connection to the Russia Investigation, Explained

Italy’s Connection to the Russia Investigation, Explained

The actions of Joseph Mifsud, a professor, played a role in the opening of the F.B.I.’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.CreditCreditJuan Manuel Herrera/OAS, via Associated Press

By Adam Goldman

Oct. 6, 2019

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/06/us/politics/italy-russia-mifsud-trump.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

"SNIP....


Who is Joseph Mifsud?

Mr. Mifsud was a professor at the London Academy of Diplomacy who also spent time as a political science faculty member at Link Campus University, a school in Rome.

Some of the president’s allies have pushed an unfounded theory that the Maltese-born Mr. Mifsud is a Western intelligence agent possibly under the control of the F.B.I. or C.I.A. whom the deep state officials dispatched as a counterintelligence trap for the Trump campaign.

Mr. Mifsud told a Trump campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, in the spring of 2016 that the Russians had “thousands” of stolen Democratic emails that could prove damaging to Mr. Trump’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, if they became public.

[Barr and a top prosecutor cast a wide net in reviewing the Russia inquiry.]

James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, has called Mr. Mifsud a Russian agent. Mr. Mifsud maintained contacts with Russians associates, including a former employee of the Internet Research Agency, which used social media posts to sow discord in 2016 as part of Russia’s election sabotage.



.....SNIP"