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Monday, October 21, 2019

The Mystery of Joseph Mifsud

A seemingly unrelated criminal case in Washington has reopened a popular Trump-Russia guessing game: Who is Joseph Mifsud?

The FBI says the vanishing professor is a Russian spy. Trump backers, citing Mr. Mifsud’s extensive Western intelligence contacts, suspect he’s an FBI, CIA or MI6 plant.

The Washington Times examined Mr. Mifsud’s extensive resume and frequent travels, revealing a skilled networker far more wedded to the West than the East.

In May 2017, 10 months into the FBI Russia conspiracy probe, Mr. Mifsud spoke in Riyadh at a high-powered terrorism conference. On his panel was counterterrorism expert Michael Hurley, who led CIA officers in Afghanistan in 2001 and served as senior counsel on the 9/11 Commission. Former Defense Secretary Ashton Carter also spoke.

Mr. Mifsud’s importance is uncontested. His hearsay conversation with a Trump campaign adviser in London prompted the FBI to start the investigation in July 2016. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report cast Mr. Mifsud as a London-based academic who frequently talks to sinister Russians. Former FBI Director James B. Comey calls the balding rumpled European a Moscow asset.

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