Simona Mangiante
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1 2 3 HOUSE PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE, 4 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 5 WASHINGTON, D.C. 6 7 8 9 INTERVIEW OF: SIMONA MANGIANTE 10 11 12 13 Wednesday, July 18, 2018 14 15 Washington, D.C. 16 17 18 19 20 The interview in the above matter was held at 234 21 Cannon House Office Building, commencing at 11:40 a.m. 22 2 1 Appearances: 2 3 HOUSE PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE 4 5 DENNY HECK, MEMBER 6 NANCY PELOSI, MEMBER 7 ADAM SCHIFF, MEMBER 8 ERIC SWALWELL, MEMBER 9 10 STAFF 11 , COUNSEL 12 , COUNSEL 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 3 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 MR. SCHIFF: Madam Leader? 3 MS. PELOSI: Well, thank you very much. And 4 Mr. Schiff, our ranking members, and to our member and 5 our members of the committee, welcome to this 6 interview. I am sorry that this isn't a bipartisan 7 interview, but the Republican majority has refused to 8 hear a number of witnesses in your case, in terms of 9 Maria Butina, somebody who could have had a valuable 10 contribution. 11 What the purpose of this is is to seek the 12 truth. So we welcome your testimony. The reason I 13 have to be involved at this level as an ex officio 14 member is because the Republicans would not do it 15 officially. So we are doing it officially, as 16 Democrats. So welcome, and thank you for being here. 17 MS. MANGIANTE: Thank you very much. 18 MR. SCHIFF: Thank you, Madam Leader, and 19 thank you -- Mangiante? 20 MS. MANGIANTE: Mangiante. 21 MR. SCHIFF: Thank you, Ms. Mangiante, for 22 your willingness to come and testify today. 4 1 This is a transcribed interview of Ms. Simona 2 Mangiante as part of our ongoing congressional 3 investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 4 U.S. election. House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi, who 5 is also an ex officio member of the House Permanent 6 Select Committee on Intelligence, is hosting today's 7 interview. 8 Before we begin I just want to say a few 9 things for the record. Questioning today will be 10 conducted by Members and staff. Some questions may 11 seem basic, but that is because we need to clarify and 12 establish certain facts and understand the situation. 13 Please don't assume that we know any facts 14 that you have not previously disclosed as part of -- or 15 that you may have discussed with other investigative 16 bodies. So I wouldn't presume that we are familiar 17 with things that have come to your attention. 18 This interview will be conducted in a closed 19 format at the unclassified level. The contents of 20 today's testimony will be considered private. 21 MS. MANGIANTE: Okay. 22 MR. SCHIFF: And we can discuss thereafter 5 1 with you your testimony. We can share with you a 2 transcript to make sure that it accurately reflects 3 what you had to say. And if at any time you need to 4 take a break, let us know. If we can get you anything, 5 let us know. 6 MS. MANGIANTE: Okay. 7 MR. SCHIFF: We ask that you give complete 8 replies to questions based on your best recollection. 9 If a question is unclear or you are uncertain in your 10 response, please let us know. Especially if there are 11 any translation or language issues, definitely let us 12 know. 13 You are entitled to have counsel present for 14 you during the interview. 15 We appreciate your accommodation by traveling 16 here to Washington, D.C. for the interview. 17 And let me see if there is anything else. 18 There is a reporter making a record of these 19 proceedings so that we can easily consult a written 20 compilation of your answers. Because the reporter 21 cannot record gestures we ask that you answer all 22 questions verbally. If you forget to do this, you may 6 1 be reminded occasionally. 2 We also ask -- we may also ask you to repeat 3 certain answers to ensure that we have an accurate 4 record of today's testimony. 5 No recording devices are otherwise permitted. 6 You don't have any recording devices with you, I 7 assume? 8 MS. MANGIANTE: I have my phones, but they 9 are not active. So I can just switch them off, if you 10 prefer. 11 MR. SCHIFF: All right. And we will probably 12 go through the various members. We will try to keep 13 this in a chronological order for simplicity. But 14 members may have to come and go because of hearings and 15 other commitments on the Hill. Please don't be put off 16 by -- 17 MS. MANGIANTE: Okay. 18 MR. SCHIFF: -- those interruptions. 19 I should mention also under U.S. law it is 20 unlawful to deliberately provide false information to 21 Members of Congress or staff. 22 Lastly, again, I want to mention our 7 1 appreciation for your willingness to voluntarily be 2 with us and testify today. 3 And with that, we will begin our questioning 4 and then we will -- 5 MS. PELOSI: I will excuse myself. Thank you 6 again for coming. 7 Thank you, Mr. Ranking Member, and thank you, 8 members. Thank you to our recorder, as well. 9 MR. SCHIFF: Thank you, Madam Leader. 10 MS. PELOSI: Thank you. 11 MR. SCHIFF: I just want to -- this one I am 12 going to defer for the beginning of our questioning to 13 Mr. Swalwell of California. 14 MR. SWALWELL: Thank you again, Ms. 15 Mangiante. Do you go by Ms. Mangiante, or is it Ms. 16 Papadopoulos? 17 MS. MANGIANTE: I keep my name, Mangiante, 18 because of recently -- yes, both -- 19 MR. SWALWELL: Okay. Do you intend -- 20 MS. MANGIANTE: But Mangiante is fine. 21 MR. SWALWELL: Do you intend to change your 22 name? 8 1 MS. MANGIANTE: No. 2 MR. SWALWELL: Okay. 3 MS. MANGIANTE: I think I will add -- 4 MR. SWALWELL: And -- 5 MS. MANGIANTE: -- eventually. 6 MR. SWALWELL: Is your husband aware that you 7 are testifying today? 8 MS. MANGIANTE: Yes. 9 MR. SWALWELL: He is? And where is he today? 10 MS. MANGIANTE: He is in Chicago. 11 MR. SWALWELL: And did you discuss at all 12 your testimony in advance with your husband? 13 MS. MANGIANTE: Yes, very generally. 14 MR. SWALWELL: Okay. And what do you mean by 15 very generally? 16 MS. MANGIANTE: We were discussing about 17 attendance, we were simply -- something without talking 18 about it, of course. I mean it is not an ordinary 19 event. So we were generally talking about it. And 20 that is not, of course, about the -- I can't discuss 21 the content or whatever, because I don't know what is 22 going to be discussed today. 9 1 MR. SWALWELL: Did you talk at all with your 2 husband's lawyer? 3 MS. MANGIANTE: No. 4 MR. SWALWELL: Who is your husband's lawyer 5 now? 6 MS. MANGIANTE: Thomas Breen. 7 MR. SWALWELL: Crane? 8 MS. MANGIANTE: Breen, I think so. 9 MR. SWALWELL: Breen. Is he Washington- 10 based, or -- 11 MS. MANGIANTE: No, it is a -- based in 12 Chicago. 13 MR. SWALWELL: It was based in Chicago? 14 MS. MANGIANTE: Mm-hmm. 15 MR. SWALWELL: Okay. And so you've never 16 discussed -- 17 MS. MANGIANTE: With the lawyer? No. 18 MR. SWALWELL: -- the facts of this case with 19 his lawyer? 20 MS. MANGIANTE: No, I discussed with the -- 21 George, yes, but not with his lawyers. I don't know if 22 he discussed with his lawyers, but his lawyers are -- I 10 1 don't have a good relation with his lawyer. 2 MR. SWALWELL: Did you rely on any notes, or 3 go back through any emails, text messages, or any type 4 of written correspondence, just to refresh your memory 5 to prepare for today? 6 MS. MANGIANTE: Yes. I mean I think most of 7 the work I have done is -- in my opinion, is the one 8 concerning my work at London Centre, so that is only -- 9 memories I tried to recollect. 10 MR. SWALWELL: And what types of 11 correspondence did that include? 12 MS. MANGIANTE: With Professor Mifsud. 13 MR. SWALWELL: And was that through text 14 messages -- 15 MS. MANGIANTE: No, email. 16 MR. SWALWELL: Email? All right. And what 17 was the email provider that you were using at the time? 18 MS. MANGIANTE: I think a Gmail. 19 MR. SWALWELL: A Gmail account? 20 MS. MANGIANTE: Yes, unless -- actually, I 21 didn't have much correspondence directly. But there is 22 this specific email in which I resigned from the London 11 1 Centre in which I say that I didn't want my name 2 associated to them any more. 3 MR. SWALWELL: And were you using at the time 4 an email address from the Centre, or -- 5 MS. MANGIANTE: Yes, I used to, but I don't 6 know why -- that is why -- emails on my private 7 account, and one of them -- I don't have -- this 8 account has been deleted, so -- 9 MR. SWALWELL: The Centre's account? 10 MS. MANGIANTE: The Centre's account, of 11 course, yes.