Two attendees at the meeting say that George Papadopoulos, a 30-something-year-old energy consultant, offered up the idea. But as with a half-dozen email inquires Papadopoulos sent to campaign officials pressing the same issue, the idea was rebuffed.

One attendee told TheDC that, as they recalled, then-Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the chairman of the campaign’s national security advisory council, quashed Papadopoulos’ suggestion. A second attendee confirmed that it was Sessions who shut down Papadopoulos, a former researcher at the conservative Hudson Institute think tank.