Papadopoulos was trying to do what Clinton campaign did through Fusion GPS and Steele

Rowan Scarborough:

Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos was trying to do what the Democratic-financed dossier writer also wanted: Dirt on the other candidate.

And they both worked out of London and looked east, to Moscow.

Mr. Papadopoulos, 30, an unpaid low-level adviser, was in contact with a Kremlin-connected professor in March-April 2016 who promised dirt on then-candidate Hillary Clinton, according to a filing by Special Counsel Robert Muellerreleased Monday.

That same year, the Democratic Party and the Clinton campaign financed British ex-spy Christopher Steele. He used the money to buy dirt from Kremlin sources on then-candidate Donald Trump and his aides

Mr. Steele produced a 35-page unverified dossier filled with charges of lawbreaking and collusion against Mr. Trumpand his people. Some of his charges made their way into the election debate via the Clinton campaign and the news media. Since then, Mr. Steele’s work has been cited by Democrats and liberal pundits to pound the White House.

Mr. Mueller disclosed that Mr. Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty Oct. 5 to a charge of lying to an FBI agent about his Russia contacts. He has agreed to cooperate with the government in the investigation into any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians.
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If what he did was illegal then the Clinton campaign is also guilty, but he is not being charged for what he did, but what he said to the FBI.  He must have thought that what he did was wrong, otherwise there would be little reason to mislead the FBI.