Trump tweets book endorsement for George Papadopoulos, a former adviser jailed in the Mueller probe whom Trump once called a liar he hardly knew

Yuri Gripas/Reuters

Former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos.

• President Trump in a tweet Monday endorsed a book by former campaign aide George Papadopoulos. 
• When Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in 2017 as part of former special counsel Robert Mueller's probe, Trump was not so friendly.
• He described the former campaign aide as "proven to be a liar" and has claimed he "never met him."
• In a conversation with an Australian diplomat in a London bar, Papadopoulos had claimed to have been offered Hillary Clinton dirt by Russians. The incident was pivotal in the launch of the Russia probe. 
• In his new book, Papadopoulos claims to have been set up in a "deep state" plot to take down Trump.
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President Donald Trump in a tweet early Monday warmly endorsed a new book by former campaign aide George Papadopoulos.

The recommendation marks an abrupt turnaround since Papadopoulos was indicted by the Mueller probe in 2017, prompting Trump to call him a liar, and somebody he barely knew.

"Good luck with the book George, should do well!" wrote the president on Monday, while re-posting a message by Papadopoulos with a link to the Amazon page for his book, "

Papadopoulos in the book claims to have been a target of a "deep state" conspiracy by national security officials. The tweet highlighted by Trump says says the book provides "a roadmap to redirect the investigation now towards the investigators."

The president then shared a message by Papadopoulos: "Message to the house democrats: time to legislate not investigate. The only investigations that should be going on right now are by: Barr, Durham, Horowitz and Huber."

The former aide was referring to an investigation into the origins of the Mueller probe recently launched by Attorney General William Barr. 

The message marks a striking change of tone by Trump, who distanced himself from Papadopoulos when in October 2017 he pled guilty to lying to the FBI.

Papadopoulos admitted lying about his contact with Russian nationals while trying to organize a meeting between Russian officials and Trump's presidential campaign team.

Trump Campaign

It was Papadopoulos' conversation with an Australian diplomat in a London bar in 2016 that which led to him being investigation.

Papadopoulos said Russians had offered to provide him dirt on Hillary Clinton, a revelation that sparked the FBI's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and allegations of collusion by Trump campaign officials.

This led to Robert Mueller's appointment as special counsel to probe the claims in May 2017. During the investigation, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to Mueller's investigators. 

"Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar," Trump tweeted  at the time.

A photograph subsequently emerged of Papadopoulos seated around the same table as Trump as part of his campaign's national security team in March 2016. The president had praised Papadopoulos following his appointment that March as a foreign policy aide, describing him as an "excellent guy."

But as recently as February Trump again claimed to have had nothing to do with him. 

"Papadopoulos, I never met him, other than one time, where he sat at a table along with maybe 10 or 15 other people, because they wanted to set up a national security team," he told The New York Times.

"And I guess he has a certain expertise in national security. So he was at a table very briefly. I don't believe I ever spoke to him.You know there were a lot of people. I was there for a very short period of time. Never met him."

Papadopoulos was released after serving 12 days of a 14 day prison sentence for lying to investigators in December. He has since walked back on his guilty plea, and appealed to Trump for a pardon.

In his book, he claims he was set up as part of a partisan plot by shadowy "deep state" officials determined to derail Trump's campaign - with his claims echoing the president's description of the Mueller probe as a "witch hunt."