DiGenova and Toensing: The FBI set up a sting operation against Papadopoulos using a suitcase full of $10,000 in cash


Washington power couple Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing appeared on Sebastian Gorka’s Salem Radio talk show “America First” Thursday, to talk about what they called a blatant FBI  sting operation against former Trump adviser George Papadopoulos.

(Article by Debra Heine republished from AMGreatness.com)

During the show, Toensing, an attorney who partners with her husband at the Washington DC law firm diGenova & Toensing, accused the FBI of trying to frame Papadopoulos with a suitcase full of cash in the summer of 2017.

According to Toensing, Papa-D was vacationing with his then-fiance, Simona Mangiante, in Greece when he was approached by someone who was supposedly impressed with his credentials, and said he wanted to do business with him. The individual allegedly talked the then-29-year-old into traveling to Israel to make a deal, and invited him to his hotel room.

“And there on the bed, is $10,000 in cash in a suitcase,” she continued. Papadopoulos took the money and gave it to his lawyer, who has it still.

Toensing said when Papadopoulos returned to the United States, he was greeted by FBI agents at Dulles Airport and they started searching through everything that he had “the second he landed.”

She added, “in fact, they already had his baggage from the plane. He couldn’t believe they had his baggage.”

“It was a set up!” exclaimed Gorka.

“It was a complete set up,” agreed Toensing.

DiGenova explained that the Feds already knew that he hadn’t declared that he had $10,000 and were expecting to find the undeclared cash so they could arrest him and “put the thumbscrews on and make him squeal,” as Gorka put it.

Worst of all, according to Toensing, “one of the FBI agents said to him, ‘this is what happens when you work for Donald Trump.’”

Papadopoulos tweeted that he would like to see Congress investigate the money. “They are marked bills. They remain with my lawyer in Athens,” he said.

Last August, the Daily Caller’s Chuck Ross interviewed the Israeli political strategist who set up the meeting between Papadopoulos and the Israeli oil consultant after he saw a court document filed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller referencing the $10,000 cash payment given to the former Trump adviser.

“The defendant provided information about $10,000 in cash he received from a foreign national whom he believed was likely an intelligence officer of a foreign country (other than Russia),” reads the court filing, which recommends a fine of between $500 and $9,500 for Papadopoulos.

“The defendant has stated that he kept that money in a safe pending his sentencing in this case and Counsel for the defendant has consented to the imposition of this fine amount,” it continued.

David Ha’ivri, the political strategist, told Ross that he introduced a man named Charles Tawil to Papadopoulos on his “own initiative” to work on a business deal “involving an oil and gas project in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas.”

Ha’ivri said that Tawil “is a part time consultant for companies that operate in Africa and Middle East” and that when he introduced Tawil to Papadopoulos, he was under the impression that the former Trump aide had “good connections” in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.

Papadopoulos was arrested at Dulles International Airport on a return trip from overseas on July 27, 2017, according the the Daily Caller.

The acting director of the FBI from May 9, 2017 to August 2, 2017, was none other than Andrew McCabe, who was fired from the Bureau in March of 2018. The disgraced former Deputy FBI Director remains under investigation by federal prosecutors for leaking to the media and lying to investigators.

DiGenova and Toensing are convinced that Papadopoulos was the victim of a botched FBI sting operation and are disappointed that no one at the FBI blew the whistle on such nefarious activities.

“I hear all these people saying, ‘don’t blame the street agents,’ and that’s true generally, but here’s the truth,” he said.  “There were no whistleblowers in the FBI and the Department of Justice. Not a single agent, not a single career lawyer stood up and blew whistles on anybody.”

DiGenova noted that there were “agents in New York who knew stuff, who tried to complain to headquarters,” but because Main Justice was so corrupt, it went nowhere. “The truth is, there was no breakout of whisteblowers in the FBI. Even worse, he said, were the career prosecutors at the DOJ who knew what was going on, and said nothing.

“It is a disgrace that people who knew things didn’t say anything,” he lamented.

“There has to be accountability for all this and the only way to have that is by a gigantic investigation into how it all happened–which means grand juries, indictments, if necessary,” diGenova added.

The three agreed that Attorney General William Barr is doing a fantastic job so far, but they had nothing good to say about the current FBI Director Christopher Wray.

“He’s an empty suit. Not only that, he’s disingenuous,” diGenova complained, pointing out that Wray has never bothered to address FBI employees about the Bureau’s alleged malfeasance during the 2016 campaign. “The only thing that Chris Wray has ever cared about is his next job,” he declared.

(Photo by Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)

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