Just as the indictment of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates sent shockwaves through Washington, D.C. on Monday it was also revealed a close foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign had pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about his contacts with Russians.
For months now special counsel Robert Mueller and his team of prosecutors have been looking into whether the Trump election campaign colluded with Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.
READ MORE: Trump once called Papadopoulos an ‘excellent guy,’ but now calls him a liar
Manafort and Gates were charged on multiple counts ranging from fraud to conspiracy, but it was the evidence published made public Monday against George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser to the president, that offered an ominous picture of the ties between Trump’s inner circle and Russia.
Here is a look at some of the names you need to know in the ongoing saga.
George Papadopoulos
It was revealed Monday Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI becoming the first person convicted in the probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
Documents released by the U.S. Justice Department show Papadopoulos’ efforts to gather negative information on Hillary Clinton from officials in the Russian Foreign Ministry.
READ MORE: With first charges in Russia probe, Robert Mueller sends warning to Trump and aides
They also describe a meeting that took place in March 2016 between Papadopoulos and a man referred to as “the professor” – a “citizen of a country in the Mediterranean.”
“The Russians had emails of Clinton,” Papadopoulos was told by the professor during a meeting.
WATCH: Trump refuses to answer questions on previous Papadopoulos ‘great guy’ comment
The hacking of emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee made headlines in July 2016 and U.S. intelligence has concluded that Russia was behind the theft.
Papadopoulos was arrested in July of this year and has been co-operating with investigators.
‘The professor’
Joseph Mifsud, director of the London Academy of Diplomacy, has been identified as the mysterious “professor” Papadopoulos met with in London.
Mifsud, who formerly served as a government official in Malta, told Papadopoulos that he had learned from high-level Russian government officials that Russia had “dirt” on Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.”
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Court documents state that Papadopoulos repeatedly sought out to use the professor’s “substantial connections to Russian government officials.”
Mifsud’s Facebook page has since been deleted including his professional page at the London Centre of International Law Practice. The academy’s London phone number also appears to have been disconnected.
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An unknown ‘female Russian national’
According to the FBI, Papadopoulos met with a woman identified only as “the female Russian national.” And as of Nov. 2, her identity is still unknown.
He was said to have been introduced to the woman on March 24, 2016, at a meeting they had with the professor.
He initially believed the woman was “Putin’s niece,” according to the court documents, but he later discovered this to be false.
Sam Clovis
Clovis, a former Trump campaign, was nominated by the president for an advisory position at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He withdrew from the nomination process after being linked to the Mueller investigation.
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The Washington Post reported on Monday, Clovis is the unnamed senior official in the court documents.
He allegedly said in August 2016, “Make the trip, if it is feasible,” in response to Papadopoulos’s offer to meet with Russian officials.
Paul Manafort
Manafort was indicted on several charges involving fraud and conspiracy and could face up to 80 years in prison. He is accused of laundering $18 million through several U.S. and foreign entities to hide payments from authorities.
WATCH: Manafort quiet as he surrenders to federal authorities
Court filings indicate that Papadopoulos emailed “another high-ranking campaign official” on May 21, 2016, with the subject line “Request from Russia to meet Mr. Trump.”
READ MORE: Money laundering, Ukraine connections but what about Russia?
Manafort has since been identified as the “high-ranking campaign official.”
Rick Gates
Gates served as Trump’s deputy campaign chair during the period Manafort was campaign chair.
Prosecutors allege the 45-year-old and Manafort worked for several years as unregistered foreign agents of the Ukrainian government and leader Victor Yanukovych.
Gates was indicted on eight counts involving fraud and conspiracy against the U.S. and could face up to 70 years in prison
WATCH: Chuck Schumer says Manafort, Gates indictment show Mueller probe ‘moving forward’
Michael Flynn
Flynn served as Trump’s national security adviser for just 24 days before being forced to resign.
It was reported that Flynn failed to reveal that he received money for a speech in Russia in 2015 and that he was vulnerable to being blackmailed.
READ MORE: Special counsel Mueller reportedly seeking Michael Flynn records
It was also discovered that Flynn lied to Vice-President Mike Pence about whether he had conversations with Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition.
Donald Trump Jr.
Trump Jr. has said that during a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer he discussed plans to hear damaging Clinton information at Trump Tower.
WATCH: Donald Trump Jr. calls attempt to receive Clinton ‘dirt’ from Russian lawyer ‘opposition research’
“If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer,” Trump Jr. said in an email to someone working to connect Trump’s people to Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya. Veselnitskaya has denied claiming to have connections to Putin or possessing harmful info on Clinton.
READ MORE: Fact check on Donald Trump’s timeline on Paul Manafort’s alleged actions
The president’s son called the meeting unproductive and that, “in retrospect, I probably would have done things a little differently.”
Jared Kushner
The president’s son-in-law, Kushner also attended the meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer, Manafort and Trump Jr.
It’s been reported that during the transition Kushner suggested setting up a secret back channel between the Kremlin and the Trump team during a December meeting with a Russian diplomat.
*With files from the Associated Press
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