Donald Trump has broken his silence over the former foreign policy aide who tried to secure a meeting for him with Vladimir Putin during the election campaign and has admitted lying to federal investigators about his work.

Trump fired off a series of tweets on Tuesday morning in which he publicly addressed for the first time the conviction of ex-adviser George Papadopoulos, which was revealed on Monday shortly after Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort was charged with a catalogue of serious federal crimes.

“Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar,” Trump posted on Twitter shortly after 8am local time on Tuesday, adding: “Check the DEMS!” It emerged on Monday that Papadopoulos pleaded guilty earlier this month to lying to federal agents working for special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.(theguardian)…[+]