washington former senior adviser president donald trump campaign team sam clovis seek distance tuesday george papadopoulos ex-campaign aide plead guilty probe russian meddle 2016 u.s. election papadopoulos plead guilty early month lie federal bureau investigation agents deal russians include april 2016 meet tell russians dirt democratic candidate hillary clinton entail thousands email prosecutors special counsel robert mueller team say court record papadopoulos conversations email exchange unnamed campaign supervisor efforts improve u.s.-russia relations set meet senior campaign russian officials accord record campaign supervisor convey papadopoulos march 2016 discussion principal foreign policy focus campaign improve u.s. relationship russia source familiar investigation say clovis campaign supervisor reference court record victoria toensing lawyer clovis dispute add client never say improve u.s.-russia relations principal foreign policy focus view trump priorities mueller lead probe allege russian efforts tilt election trump favor potential collusion trump aid russia deny allegations trump deny collusion prosecutors say court record papadopoulos email supervisor several others tell meet professor turn introduce russian woman russian ambassador london discuss set meet talk u.s.-russia tie trump presidency supervisor reply would work campaign make commitment point great work supervisor add email august 2016 supervisor write papadopoulos reference possible record meet russian officials say would encourage another foreign policy adviser make trip response toensing say dr clovis always vigorously oppose russian trip donald trump staff however volunteer make suggestions foreign policy matter dr. clovis polite gentleman iowa would express courtesy appreciation clovis since nominate trump top post chief scientist u.s. department agriculture debbie stabenow rank member senate panel vet nomination tell reuters concern emerge information role trump campaign interactions russia raise serious concern say statement nbc news report tuesday clovis question mueller team testify grand jury white house spokeswoman sarah sanders say tuesday trump campaign team provide special counsel email involve papadopoulos describe case individual wrong thing campaign right thing former trump campaign adviser deny encourage aide russia deal