The revelation comes from the\u00a0Post<\/em>‘s Matt Zapotosky and Devlin Barrett (the latter of whom had a direct line to former FBI attorney Lisa Page\u00a0according to her text messages<\/a>), and will reportedly appear in the forthcoming report by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz.<\/p>\n In short, Horowitz asked US Attorney John Durham if Mifsud was a US intelligence asset “deployed to ensnare the campaign,<\/strong>” to which Durham – who is conducting a separate review of the 2016 US election – responded that his investigation “had not produced any evidence that might contradict the inspector general’s findings on that point,” according to the\u00a0Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n Of note, Mifsud told (or seeded) 2016 Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos with the rumor that Russia had ‘dirt’ on Hillary Clinton, on April 26, 2016.\u00a0Two weeks later<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>he repeated it to Australian diplomat (and\u00a0Clinton ally<\/a>) Alexander Downer at a London bar,\u00a0who relayed the\u00a0Kremlin ‘dirt’ rumor to Australian authorities, which alerted the FBI – kicking off the official counterintelligence operation against the Trump campaign, dubbed Operation Crossfire Hurricane.<\/p>\n That said, the\u00a0Post<\/em>\u00a0adds “The Washington Post has not reviewed Horowitz\u2019s entire report, even in draft form. It is also unclear if Durham has shared the entirety of his findings and evidence with the inspector general, or merely answered a specific question.”<\/p>\n Papadopoulos, meanwhile, has posited that\u00a0<\/strong>Mifsud is (or was) an Italian intelligence asset “who the C.I.A. weaponized,”\u00a0<\/strong>according to an October\u00a0New York Times<\/em><\/a>\u00a0report. Moreover, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani told\u00a0Fox News<\/em>\u00a0in April that Mifsud was “a counterintelligence operative, either Maltese or Italian,” who may have participated in a “counterintelligence trap” against the Trump campaign aide.<\/p>\n Notably, AG Barr himself traveled to Italy in Mid-September to discuss Mifsud, and was reportedly told by the head of the Italian Security Intelligence Department, Gennaro Vecchione, that Mifsud was\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0one of their assets.<\/p>\n According to a former Italian government official, Barr first met with Gennaro Vecchione, the head of Italy\u2019s Security Intelligence Department, on Aug. 15, essentially to establish contact, and returned Sept. 27 for a second meeting with the heads of Italy\u2019s domestic and foreign intelligence services.<\/p>\n Barr, the official said, \u201casked if Italian intelligence knew anything about Mifsud and if the Italians were aware of his role\u201d in the Russia investigation \u201cin terms of being involved in Italian intelligence itself or if he was politically tied with Italian political leaders allied with the Democrats.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0The Italians, the official said, \u201cexplained that there is no involvement by the Italian intelligence services in this \u2014 and the fact that we don\u2019t have any evidence of this plot.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey confirmed no connections, no activities, no interference,<\/strong>\u201d the official said. –Washington Post, Oct. 6<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n As we have noted ad-nauseum, Mifsud has bragged about being a\u00a0member of the Clinton Foundation.<\/a>\u00a0Meanwhile, here is a timeline of Mifsud’s interactions with Papadopoulos, via\u00a0The Markets Work<\/a>:<\/p>\n We know that Papadopoulos met multiple times with Mifsud in the first half of 2016:<\/strong><\/p>\n Note:<\/strong>\u00a0Papadopoulos and Mifsud reportedly\u00a0both worked<\/a>\u00a0at the London Centre of International Law Practice. –The Markets Work<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n So – was Mifsud an asset of any state intelligence apparatus – or was he working with any on behalf of Hillary Clinton?<\/p>\n Oh, John: all the weaponized assets you sent my way [Joseph Mifsud, Alexander Downer, Stefan Halper] are all being outed from London, Rome and Canberra. Those governments are now actively cooperating with the Trump administration and have flipped on you. Your role will be exposed<\/p>\n — George Papadopoulos (@GeorgePapa19) May 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_desktop\/public\/inline-images\/mifsud%201_1_0.jpg?itok=fLdQrQhX)
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