Former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos said Monday he has been vindicated by Special Counsel John Durham's long-anticipated report determining that the Trump-Russia collusion probe never should have been launched.
"I feel ecstatic," Papadopoulos said on "Fox News Tonight." "My wife and I have been celebrating all day today because this really didn’t just tarnish my image it also tarnished my wife’s image who really stuck with me through this entire saga from beginning until end, So I’m a very lucky guy."
"I also had the support of so many Americans out there and I really want to thank them from the bottom of my heart for believing in me and my wife and my family from day one as we resolve this egregious misconduct in this dark chapter in American history," Papadopoulos continued. "I still believe there will be some fallout from this report."
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His comments came hours after Durham released his report determining that the FBI spent years investigating alleged collusion between former President Trump and Russia with little merit, stating "that the Department and the FBI failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report."
Durham said his investigation also revealed that "senior FBI personnel displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor towards the information that they received, especially information received from politically-affiliated persons and entities" and that this information "in part triggered and sustained" Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI's investigation that looked into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.
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Papadopoulos, whose oversees encounters were considered by some as a trigger for the Crossfire Hurricane probe, hailed Durham's report as a "profound indictment" on the U.S. intelligence community, telling host Will Cain that "heads have to roll" for putting the country through years of unfounded Trump-Russia collusion allegations.
"I think at the macro level, this is a profound indictment of the U.S. Intelligence community with grave and deleterious consequences for America and I also think it’s an absolute vindication for myself the Trump campaign and President Trump and over 75 million Americans who voted for him," he said.
"When you target law-abiding citizens and try to overthrow our democracy like the FBI leadership did, heads have to roll."
Papadopolous said that while Durham report "vindicates" himself and the former president, he believes there are "strategic" omissions in the report that he hopes Durham will testify to before Congress.
"I’m so happy to see congressman [Jim] Jordan tweeting publicly that he’s invited John Durham to testify publicly because we need accountability and transparency is needed for the American public to once again have trust in the system," Papadopolous said.
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In March 2016, as an aide to the Trump campaign focusing on foreign policy, Papadopoulos met with Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud in London who told him that the Russians had dirt in the form of emails that could damage Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Papadopoulos then told Australian diplomat Alexander Downer of the new information, and Downer reported Papadopoulos’ comments to the FBI.
Papadopoulos was later charged in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation with lying to investigators. The charging document said the false statement was about the timing of his meeting with Mifsud and about his knowledge of Mifsud’s connections to Russia. The charging document also claimed that he "impeded" the investigation by making his false statement. He was sentenced to 14 days in prison and one-year probation.
"I’m very happy that Durham refuted that bogus premise because he stated unequivocally that there was absolutely no basis or foundation whatsoever to ever launch an investigation," Papadopoulos said Monday.
"He even publicly refuted what this Australian diplomat mentioned and what the FBI took from him. So the entire thing was salacious, unfounded, unjust, the American people paid for it and there has to be retribution," he asserted, "and that all starts, I believe, through Congress doing its work."
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
