GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS

Accusations of illegality are a common thread winding through Trump's early team.

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FILE - In this Thursday, June 27, 2019 file photo, Paul Manafort arrives in court in New York. President Trump's former campaign manager is to be arraigned on state mortgage fraud charges. Manafort, who led Trump's campaign during a pivotal period in 2016 before being ousted over his ties to Ukraine, was among the first people charged as part of Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Though the charges against Manafort did not concern the central thrust of Mueller's mandate — whether the Trump campaign and Russia colluded to tip the election — he was nonetheless a pivotal figure in the investigation. Trump and the elder Kushner knew each other from real estate circles and their children were married in 2009.

On Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, President Donald Trump pardoned 15 people, including Collins. Papadopoulos was the first Trump aide to plead guilty as part of Mueller’s investigation – pleading guilty to lying to the FBI – and served a nearly two-week sentence in federal prison. The White House said Stockman had contracted coronavirus while in federal prison and has served more than two years of his 10-year sentence. Esformes’ prison sentence was commuted by the president on Tuesday, but other aspects of his sentence, including supervised release and millions in restitution, remained intact. The White House said the commutation was supported by a number of former attorneys general and said Esformes is in declining health.

FILE - In this Thursday, June 27, 2019 file photo, Paul Manafort arrives in court in New York. President Trump's former campaign manager is to be arraigned on state mortgage fraud charges. Manafort, who led Trump's campaign during a pivotal period in 2016 before being ousted over his ties to Ukraine, was among the first people charged as part of Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Though the charges against Manafort did not concern the central thrust of Mueller's mandate — whether the Trump campaign and Russia colluded to tip the election — he was nonetheless a pivotal figure in the investigation. Trump and the elder Kushner knew each other from real estate circles and their children were married in 2009.

On Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, President Donald Trump pardoned 15 people, including Collins. Papadopoulos was the first Trump aide to plead guilty as part of Mueller’s investigation – pleading guilty to lying to the FBI – and served a nearly two-week sentence in federal prison. The White House said Stockman had contracted coronavirus while in federal prison and has served more than two years of his 10-year sentence. Esformes’ prison sentence was commuted by the president on Tuesday, but other aspects of his sentence, including supervised release and millions in restitution, remained intact. The White House said the commutation was supported by a number of former attorneys general and said Esformes is in declining health.

President Trump has begun granting pardons in his final days in office, including pardons for former congressmen Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins, as well as former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos and Alex van der Zwaan, convicted as a part of the Russia investigation. Hunter pleaded guilty to misusing campaign funds, including to pay for vacations, and claimed the whole thing was a "witch hunt." Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about contacts he had with Russian agents while he was on the Trump campaign's payroll. Van der Zwaan pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement to investigators regarding questions of Russian interference. Mr. Trump also commuted the sentence of Steve Stockman, a former congressman who pleaded guilty to counts of wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering.

He and his allies have discussed a range of other possibilities, including members of Trump's family and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. Trump also announced pardons for two people entangled in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Trump has granted about 2% of requested pardons in his single term in office — just 27 before Tuesday's announcement. Bush, another one-term president, granted 10% of requests. Also among those pardoned by Trump was Phil Lyman, a Utah state representative who led an ATV protest through restricted federal lands.

WASHINGTON – Advocates and lawyers anticipate a flurry of clemency action from President Donald Trump in the coming weeks that could test the limits of presidential pardon power. No, Mr. President, that would be a gross abuse of the presidential pardon authority,” Schumer said. Trump then featured Johnson's story in a Super Bowl ad and pardoned her during this year's Republican National Convention. He has participated in several meetings at the White House during Trump's term as officials brainstormed potential changes to the formal clemency process. “For those people that should be free," he said, Trump's friends-and-family approach to pardons is "a deep and real tragedy."

Yet in the 2020 campaign, Democrats are largely ignoring the Russia probe. While some of the revelations from the steady drip of newly declassified documents are serious, they do not undercut the reasons the Russia probe was launched or its principal findings. Meanwhile, Attorney General William Barr has appointed a prosecutor to investigate the origins of the Russia probe. Meanwhile, attacking the Russia probe is a core part of Trump's campaign. Those attacks on the Russia probe may not win over many undecided voters.

A newly declassified transcript from the FBI's 2016 Russia probe reviewed by CBS News shows a recorded conversation between former Trump advisor George Papadopoulos and the bureau's confidential human source turned up no evidence of coordination between the campaign and Russia. The 90-page, lightly redacted transcript between Papadopoulos who is identified by the code name "Crossfire Typhoon," or CT and the bureau's confidential human source, or CHS, captures the October 23, 2016 conversation. Of the October 23, 2016 transcript, Horowitz wrote, "Papadopoulos did not say much about Russia during the first conversation with Source 3, other than to mention a "friend Sergey...[who] lives in...Brooklyn," and invite Source 3 to travel with Papadopoulos to Russia in the summertime." Papadopoulos is a key figure in the FBI Russia probe. In response to the Horowitz report, the FBI has undertaken a broad review of the FISA process, and Director Christopher Wray "ordered more than 40 corrective steps to address the Report's recommendations."

Papadopoulos went to jail for 12 days late last year after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI during special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible collusion between Trump's campaign and the Russian government. Trump is known to be a fervent viewer of "Fox & Friends." The Trump administration did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment asking if the president would endorse Papadopoulos. In a Nov. 13 email asking supporters to donate to his then-potential campaign, Papadopoulos said he "bore the brunt of the Deep State's attack on our president during and after he won election in 2016. The political establishment did everything they could to railroad me and take out President Trump."

The Trump foreign policy adviser, who pleaded guilty this week to lying to federal agents investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, traveled the world touting his campaign ties.

George Papadopoulos sought to arrange meetings between the campaign and Russian leadership.