Updated
An Australian foreign minister with the airs of
antipodean aristocracy turns spy for his birth land, using a prized
diplomatic posting to pursue oil and gas interests in the Mediterranean.
He's
introduced to an ambitious American up-and-comer through a diplomatic
aide with Israeli contacts, and learns of a Russian attempt to nobble a
presidential aspirant.They meet in an upmarket London wine bar that boasts 150 different varieties, but decide that gin and tonic is their tipple of choice.
No, it's not the blurb on the back of an airport lounge page-turner. It's the story being spruiked by a convicted liar about Australia's former high commissioner to the United Kingdom, Alexander Downer.
The real story — or as close to it as can be gleaned — is also intriguing, but the motives ascribed to what went on are far less calculating.
George Papadopoulos, sentenced to 14 days' prison earlier this month for lying to the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign, has had plenty to say about Australia's former top diplomat in London.
I found it so odd that Downer, who gained notoriety in Australia for wearing women's fish nets, invited me to "order" me to stop "bothering" his good friend David Cameron. And told me my views were hostile to British interests.
He's suggested on Twitter that Downer is an operative of MI6, the British secret intelligence service, and that Downer's companion at drinks was a member of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service.
Their meeting at Kensington Wine Rooms in May 2016 has become practically folkloric. It triggered a series of events that is now the subject of the Robert Mueller investigation that began two months later.
So what did happen?
"Alexander Downer did not randomly reach out to me," Papadopoulos told conservative commentator Sean Hannity on his nationally syndicated radio show in the US this week.
That's agreed on by all parties. At least sort of.
Erika Thompson, a career diplomat working as a political counsellor at the commission, had a boyfriend called Christian Cantor, the head of the political branch in the Israeli embassy.
Papadopoulos also knew Cantor, describing him as someone "who just hated Trump, he hated his guts".
Australian sources describe Cantor, who is now engaged to Thompson, as a "liberal internationalist" who'd be no Trump fan.
"All of a sudden, [Cantor] decides one day to introduce me to his so-called girlfriend, who just happened to be an Australian intelligence officer and the assistant to Alexander Downer," Papadopoulos said.Australian sources emphatically deny Thompson is an ASIS agent, but a "mainstream DFAT officer".
She asked Downer if he'd like to meet Papadopoulos, explaining he was known to Cantor and was part of the Donald Trump campaign.
Downer thought it wasn't a bad idea; Trump wasn't yet the Republican nominee for the United States presidency, but close to being, and there were things to be learnt about the potential president.
So they met about 6pm on a Tuesday at the Church Street, Kensington wine bar chosen by Thompson. It was a mutually convenient venue; Downer lived south of Hyde Park, Thompson north.
The three of them had a gin and tonic, maybe two, over an hour.
Trump describes Papadopoulos as an 'excellent guy'
The 28-year-old Papadopoulos was very friendly. But he seemed someone rather inexperienced to be a senior foreign affairs adviser to a presidential candidate.Downer led the discussion. Papadopoulos was confident about Trump winning the nomination — but the Australians surmised that he would say that, being a "Trumponista".
Papadopoulos assured them that Trump wouldn't be an isolationist, as some had been warning. The American said Trump would be tough on trade when it came to China and Europe. This was good gear.
They talked about oil and gas. Trump had introduced Papadopoulos as "an energy and oil consultant, excellent guy" when he met The Washington Post's editorial board in March 2016, so the Australians knew it was a subject that might elicit chat.
Downer knew a fair bit about oil and gas in the Eastern Mediterranean, having been United Nations special adviser on Cyprus for six years from 2008, a period when Perth-based firm Woodside acquired a 30 per cent stake off the coast of Israel, which shares a maritime border with the island of Cyprus.
"Australian oil company, Woodside, was actively competing with American oil companies trying to do business in Israel and Cyprus," Papadopoulos tweeted on Thursday.
"I was advising American companies at the time. No wonder Downer wanted to talk oil in London and then began recording me with his phone. Set up."
I repeat: the British and Australian governments were illegally spying on the Trump Campaign by April 2016. Let that sink in.
The Australian side denies recording the conversation. Diplomacy isn't done that way, it was explained to the ABC.
It was all good intel, relayed back to Australia in a cable written by Thompson.
But it was what Papadopoulos had said about Russia, also detailed in the cable, that proved critical.
Downer had asked Papadopoulos about Trump's prospects, should he get to a general election, and the American was optimistic about his chances.
But then he would be, wouldn't he?
He said the Russians might use some damaging material they had on Hillary Clinton, who was still some weeks from becoming the presumptive Democrat presidential nominee.
It was a remarkable tidbit of information to casually drop into conversation.
"I have no recollection, whatsoever, talking about emails," Papadopoulos said this week, referring to a trove of Clinton and Democrat-related emails that had been stolen by Russian intelligence.
"I remember a lot about this meeting, and it was one of the most strange meetings I had in the campaign."It's understood that Downer remembers no specific mention of emails either.
News spreads from London to Canberra and DC
But the cable came back to Canberra about an aide to Trump saying the Russians had some dirt on Hillary Clinton and were prepared to use it.The Americans weren't informed immediately about what Papadopoulos had said to Downer, but when it became known that the FBI suspected a Russian hack of Clinton emails, the information was shared with the Five Eyes intelligence partner.
Cantor is now back in Jerusalem, working as a branch head in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thompson, now his fiancée, is on leave without pay from DFAT.
Downer is in London and has not been questioned by the Mueller inquiry. Some say it's very unlikely he ever will.
And Papadopoulos is still tweeting darkly, warning only yesterday that the British and Australian governments' "attempt to sabotage the Trump campaign" is about to backfire.
The British and Australian governments' attempt to sabotage the Trump campaign is about to backfire in a spectacular fashion.
As for that 20-pound round of drinks shouted by Australian taxpayers at the Kensington Wine Rooms, it's now commemorated by a blue plaque.
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