Area Republicans to host former Trump aide Papadopoulos in La Cañada event
Glendale-Burbank Republican Assembly members will get a peek inside Washington politics Sunday when George Papadopoulos — former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser — comes to La Cañada Flintridge as a guest speaker at the group’s 80th annual summer party.
The event takes place from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Jeffers estate on Foothill Boulevard and will feature a catered barbecue lunch, a performance from the Sardo Brothers Band and a keynote address by the former White House aide, whose 2016 conversations with a professor allegedly linked to Russian officials played a role in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections.
The Orange County resident and author of the 2019 book “Deep State Target: How I Got Caught in the Crosshairs of the Plot to Bring Down President Trump,” plans to attend the event alongside wife Simona Mangiante. His talk is titled “Caught in the Eye of the Storm.”
GBRA President Lois Lee said the annual summer party is a longstanding tradition of the Republican assembly, which serves its namesake cities as well as the communities of La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose and Sunland-Tujunga.
“It’s a chance to have fun, of course, but it also brings high-value speakers that we normally don’t have throughout the year,” she said of Sunday’s soiree, which typically draws crowds in the hundreds. “It’s a big event that lets families get together and have fun with people who are like-minded.”
The 32-year-old Papadopoulos, who last December served 12 days in jail after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about his contact with Russians during the 2016 presidential race, was among several speakers considered by GBRA board members.
Glendale resident Allen Brandstater, a board member involved in the selection process, said the former aide’s connections to and support of the White House made him an ideal candidate to address those gathered for Sunday’s event.
“[Papadopoulos] was unfairly targeted by the deep state, and we wanted to give an airing to his viewpoints and others similarly situated who have been wrongly convicted of colluding with the Russians,” Brandstater said. “Our thought was, because he continues to be strongly identified with the president, we wanted to hear from him.”
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