If true, then why has the deep state targeted them and made it public?
What do you mean?
They were using them (among others!) try to entrap Trump, to create reports of Russian contacts within his campaign, to get authorization particularly with Page for the “two-hop” FISA rule for surveillance of Trump and his campaign, and to with the FISA authorization to try to backfill as cover for the illegal direct NSA spying they were doing up until Rogers shut that down.
They didn’t want these guys to be able to admit that they were working of our IC undercover and wanted to try to either in reality or in appearance make it appear as if they (or some of the others they sent at Trump) were part of an illegal conspiracy between Trump and Russia.
because the deep state has hundreds of wannabee types with limited ability or trained to the limitation— for use as cutouts and throwaways— they do this all the time. So, papadapoulos was told one thing (which he knows, and did not testify to the investigation, because they know it too) he was doing at this training center, and then he carries the “story” he was supposed to, in becoming a willing “patriot” plant in the trump campaign to expose the russian there (that’s what he’s told his mission is— when in reality, he’s a throwaway plant and barely informed guy. and, stupid, as well, nobody.