We’re going to have a problem here.
Twitter asked Monday morning if the real George Papadopoulos — that is, the 30-year-old ex-Trump campaign adviser who recently struck a plea deal in the Russia probe — would please stand up. Instead, users found the other George Papadopoulos, a mild-mannered Ann Arbor financial planner and panelist for the Wall Street Journal’s The Experts blog. Confusion ensued.
The 50-year-old Papadopoulos (username @feeonlyplanner) learned of the mixup on a trip to Greece, where he was tending to his elderly mother’s affairs.
“Of course I enjoy her home cooking and just had finished another amazing lunch she prepared. There is a six-hour difference and the day was just starting in the US. I had a decent Wifi connection and decided to do a quick check online,” he told Moneyish in an email. “Well, that was when the news hit and it has been an unbelievable stream of social media action, emails, and messages.”
Luckily, Papadopoulos’ urgent clarification early on — “For the nth time, I am NOT Trump’s foreign policy adviser! I have NO association with the Trump camp! NONE!” — seemed to quell the “initial aggressive attacks,” he said.
He’s still working through the massive volume of replies.
“There have been so many that I am way behind getting through to them all,” Papadopoulos said. “I remember one telling me I am going to jail. Not the best thing to hear on a Monday!”
His namesake, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign and self-described oil, gas and policy consultant, resurfaced this week as news broke he’d pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the FBI amid Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election interference. “I was aware of this guy before and had posted a similar tweet some time ago when he first appeared in the news,” Papadopoulos said. “I do not worry about things I (can’t) control so I am trying to make the best of it and have some fun along the way with it.”
After all, he explained, George Papadopoulos is the John Smith of Greek names — even cropping up in the ’80s ABC sitcom “Webster,” which spelled it “Papadapolis.” “I heard about this all my life,” he said. “My family is taking it in a good way, we try to joke about it.”
Asked if he had any advice for his fellow George in crisis, Papadopoulos kept it short and sweet: “Never ever lie to the FBI!”