Mystery professor tied to genesis of Russian investigation, believed dead

FPI / December 22, 2019

Joseph Mifsud, the Maltese professor and major figure in the origins of the Trump-Russia hoax, is believed to be dead, according to an Italian media report.

Mifsud reportedly went missing in the fall of 2017. He was a key figure in the FBI's launching of its Crossfire Hurricane investigation which spied on the 2016 Trump campaign.

In a report for the Italian news outlet Il Giornale, journalists Roberto Vivaldelli and Mauro Indelicato suggest that sources within the Agrigento Public Prosecution office believe there is an “80 percent” chance that Mifsud is dead.

The Agrigento prosecutor’s office has brought charges against Mifsud in a criminal matter associated with his work at a public university in Italy.

U.S. investigative reporter Sara Carter said she spoke to one of the journalists, Vivaldelli, who “affirmed that the newest details regarding Mifsud came as a result of their investigation into Mifsud’s time as president of a university in the southern Italian city of Agrigento, Sicily. Currently, prosecutor’s in Agriengento, Sicily are investigating Mifsud’s alleged misuse of university finances and unexplained expenses.”

“Mifsud is under investigation for his management of the university and for some crazy expenses,” Vivaldelli told Carter. “From the information we have gathered, the Italian prosecutors are convinced that the professor is most likely not alive.”

U.S. Attorney General William Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham have opened a criminal investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia hoax. Mifsud befriended then-Trump campaign adviser George Papadopolous and informed him that the Russians had obtained Hillary Clinton’s missing emails.

“If anyone has answers into what really happened with the FBI’s investigation it would be” Mifsud, Carter noted. “It was allegedly Mifsud’s tipoff about the Russians having Clinton’s emails that was the beginning of the investigation. The former FBI officials stated that it was when Papadopolous discussed what he had been told by Mifsud with Australian Ambassador Alexander Downer that the counterintelligence investigation began. They bureau agents claimed it was the pretext to opening the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into the campaign in July 2016.”

Carter continued: “But now we know different and there is enough information surfacing to suspect that Mifsud did not have ties to Russia but was a western intelligence asset, as suggested by his attorney Stephan Roh, in an article written by John Solomon.

“Whether, Mifsud is in hiding for his own safety is not known. Why the Italian prosecutors believe he is dead has not been explained, but the work done by these two Italian journalists is very thorough. It’s another piece of the puzzle in understanding the mysterious Mifsud – what role he played and what may have actually happened to him.”

Free Press International