Former Trump aide George Papadopoulos says the “bizarre” meeting he attended with Australia's High Commissioner to the UK triggered a major criminal investigation in which he suggested evidence had been falsified to target his old boss’s campaign.

Mr Papadopoulos was implicated in the investigation into Russian interference in the US election and pleaded guilty to charges but was issued a full pardon by the president before he left office.

During the 2016 election, he famously attended a meeting with Mr Downer where he allegedly bragged Mr Trump would win because Russia might release information damaging to Hillary Clinton.

However, in an exclusive interview with Sky News Mr Papadopoulos claimed he had “never met a Russian official” in his life.

“The meeting I had with Alexander Downer … was probably the most bizarre meeting I’ve had in my entire life and I remember it in very vivid detail,” he said.

“No one was drunk at this meeting, I don’t know where this fantasy from the New York Times comes from, it certainly didn’t come from my mouth.

“I felt that he was there to probe me and to essentially record my conversation for some reason outside of my understanding.”

In a book he wrote which covers the meeting in question, Mr Papadopoulos describes Mr Downer as “the devil from down under” and the situation he became entangled in a “major scandal”.

“They actually picked the wrong person to try and make a patsy about Russia conspiracy because my entire career was in neo-conservative politics

“You don’t make a career in DC in neo-conservative politics in DC supporting Russian agendas or meeting with Russian officials for that matter.

“There’s a major criminal investigation ongoing into exactly what was going on here and who might have been falsifying information in order to really try and target this campaign”.