Read the information they filed against him to get his plea. It’s on the web.
I read that...does it not seem like a typical thing that a inexperienced person who thinks he is smart (like Papadopoulos) would walk right into?
“Sure, I’ll talk to you folks at the FBI, no, I don’t need a lawyer present, what do you need to know? I don’t have anything to hide. Uh, sure. I understand not telling the truth is punishable. What do you want to know?”
I’ll bet a buck that as this thing went on, he began to panic, because you can imagine by the words, tones, and looks on the faces that they were trying to screw him to the wall.
I read in that document a classic example of a guy, Papadopoulos, who wanted to score a “scalp” for the Trump Campaign by making some high level contacts in Russia, maybe even setting up a meeting with Putin himself! One can almost imagine his fantasizing that Trump, upon hearing that Papadopoulos set up a meeting with Putin for Trump, would pat Papadopoulos on the back,, promote him to his inner circle, George would make a name for himself and so on.
Point is, he was in over his head, fresh innocent meat, and being groomed for exploitation by both the FBI and the Russians. (remember, it isn’t really in question that the Russians were screwing around in this arena trying to, as Dan Bongino states, sow chaos in our institutions. Putin is not, and has never been our friend. He is a KGB thug to the core, and leopards don’t change their spots.