march 2016. days later, after that appointment, according to court filin filings, he was approached by an intermediary who put him in touch with people who put him in touch with the russian government. what followed with repeated contacts between papadopoulos and those individuals in an effort to set up meeting between trump and senior russian officials. those efforts were regularly relayed back to, even encouraged by top trump campaign aides. they were also known to the president himself. on march 31st, 2016, donald trump attended a meeting in washington with his national security team, headed up by current attorney general jeff sessions. and right there in the middle of the table facing sessions is george papadopoulos. who when he introduced himself, stated in sum and substance that he had connections that could help arrange a meeting between then candidate trump and president putin. but perhaps most significantly, papadopoulos was told the