DAY 291: Papadopoulos presented himself to UK as representative of Trump campaign

Donald Trump and the White House have tried to characteize George Papadopoulos as a low level, unpaid volunteer who had very little to do with the Trump campaign. Photos and comments by Donald Trump himself show that's a lie by the Trump camp. But now UK officials are revealing Papadopoulos presented himself to the UK government as a representative of the Trump campaign.

According to BBC:

"As you would expect in the run up to an election we seek to build links with figures in both the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns," a Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokeswoman told the BBC, confirming the meeting. "This type of outreach is normal diplomatic business."

While such meetings may be routine diplomacy, the fact that Papadopoulos was presenting himself to the government of one of the US's closest allies as a representative of the Trump campaign undercuts the White House's recent assertion that Papadopoulos was a campaign volunteer of little importance.

So Papadopoulos was not some low-level, irrelevant volunteer. He was a representative of the Trump campaign. Which suggests Trump did know about Papadopoulos contacts with Russia, and thus was aware of the collusion of his campaign with the Russian government.