Businessman who paid Papadopoulos $10k: ‘He is a pathetic liar’ for pushing ‘conspiracy theory’ that it was a sting operation
George Papadopoulos, the convicted ex-Trump adviser who is preparing to serve his 14-day sentence for lying to the FBI, has been outspoken in accusing elements of the FBI of entrapment in 2017, specifically regarding a $10,000 cash payment from Israeli-American businessman Charles Tawil. The entrapment theory has been echoed in right-wing publications as well as social media.
In August, Mr. Papadopoulos accused Mr. Tawil of being an “intelligence officer of a foreign country”. Indeed in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s sentencing recommendation for Mr. Papadopoulous it was noted that “the defendant provided information about $10,000 in cash he received from a foreign national whom he believed was likely an intelligence officer of a foreign country…”
Mr. Tawil previously denied the accusations of his affiliation with western intelligence agencies but with recent inflammatory comments by Mr. Papadopoulos, including an offer to Congress to inspect the $10,000 in the belief that it would lead back to the Obama administration, Mr. Tawil struck a more direct tone in an exclusive interview with this reporter.
“The guy is a pathetic liar” Mr. Tawil said of Mr. Papadopoulos. “I met him when he was out of a job and offered him a job and gave him, on his demand, a loan, cash as he requested because he did not have an account in Europe.”
“He mentioned that I am working with Mossad or the FBI or some crap like this. He is a lunatic”
The $10,000, per Mr. Tawil, was a loan on the request of Mr. Papadopoulos who was seeking to extend his European pre-honeymoon with his new wife, Simona Mangiante. Mr. Papadopoulos has previously stated that the payment was insisted upon by Mr. Tawil, a claim that the Israeli-American denies vehemently.
Mr. Tawil continued, “I have copies of emails and WhatsApp communication with George that can prove that he is a liar. Instead of thanking me, he is trying to drag me in his mud.”
He finished his denial by stating, “He is coward and a liar and probably other things too.” Sarcastically at the end of the conversation, Mr. Tawil said, “Oh and I am not a secret agent.”
Over email Mr. Tawil explained his preference for Mr. Trump over Mrs. Clinton for what he called “the disaster she brought on Africa and Middle East and Ukraine and many places.” To suggest that he was part of a plot to hurt the Trump campaign given his strong support for Mr. Trump is unimaginable in his view.
David Ha’ivri, an Israeli political strategist and member of the Shomron Regional Council, in a separate exclusive interview advised that not only did he introduce Papadopoulos and Tawil, he confirmed Papadopoulos was the one who requested the funds.
Ha’ivri, having known Tawil for 10 years, described him as a “regular guy building connections and business consulting.” “I’m sure American law enforcement agencies know this whole conspiracy story is bogus, just Papadopoulos’ efforts to throw a smoke screen with crazy conspiracy theories. They know Charles has no connection to any intelligence agencies.”
Ha’ivri remembered “reading articles with Papadopoulos as someone who was in the inner circle of the Trump Campaign”, so he reached out to Papadopoulos by contacting him via LinkedIn around December 2016, according to his recollection.
The two were able to arrange a meeting between Papadopoulos and Yossi Dagan during the Trump Inauguration in Washington D.C. as Ha’ivri viewed it as, “a great opportunity for our leadership to be closer to the Trump inner circle.”
As for the cash payment, Ha’ivri said “The $10,000 was totally innocent. Papadopoulos making this into a conspiracy theory is so ungrateful and obnoxious. Charles tried to set him up for work. He asked for a loan, Charles helped him and he took the money.”
Mr. Tawil also raised concerns, entirely unprompted, about Mr. Papadopoulos’s wife, Simona Mangiante. Mr. Tawil and the couple met in the Mykonos in 2017 shortly before the payment occurred. “She has a very shady past,” Mr. Tawil said. “She did not have a salary yet she lived in a $1.5 million apartment in London?”
“When I joked with her that Neapolitans are very rarely blond she smiled and told me that her dad was Swiss,” Mr. Tawil said, recounting a conversation from mid-2017.
“I’ve met her parents,” Mr. Papadopoulos recently stated in an interview with Dan Bongino, a conservative commentator and conspiracy theorist. “They’re the most Italian people you can possibly imagine.”
Mr. Papadopoulos did not return a request for comment about Mr. Tawil’s assertions.
