Special counsel Robert Mueller has obtained the cooperation of Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, who had a mysterious meeting in the Seychelles with a figure linked to Donald Trump and a Russian days before the inauguration.
Nader has done work advising the United Arab Emirates, and got arrested at Dulles airport in Virginia January 17 on his way to Mar-a-Lago.
Investigators seized his electronic equipment and questioned him, and presented him with a search warrant. Within days he spoke to a grand jury. He is cooperating with Mueller and his investigators, the New York Times reported.
Investigators are interested in a January 2017 meeting he in the Seychelles, the South Pacific island nation, attended by Blackwater founder Erik Prince and crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan of the of the United Arab Emirates.
George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman, has done work advising the United Arab Emirates, and got arrested at Dulles airport in Virginia January 17 on his way to Mar-a-Lago
During the visit, Prince also met with Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian investment manager who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Prince and Dmitriev met at the bar of the Four Seasons, in what Prince has described as a casual encounter. Dmitriev manages the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which steers foreign contributions into projects inside Russia.
According to the Times, Mueller is investigating whether Nader helped steer money to help Trump politically.
The Washington Post reported that U.S. and foreign officials believe the meeting was an effort to set up back-channel communication between Moscow and the new administration.
That was also an apparent objective of a December meeting between Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and Russia’s former ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak.
Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates leaves after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron (not seen) at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France on June 21, 2017. He attended a meeting in the Seychelles weeks before Trump took office
Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive officer of Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) also attended the meeting. He is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin
Erik Prince, chairman of Frontier Services Group Ltd., poses for a photograph in Hong Kong, China, on Thursday, March 16, 2017. A former U.S. Navy SEAL, Prince is best known for his role running Blackwater Security. He was an informal advisor to the Trump campaign
Prince met Kirill Dmitriev at the bar of the Four Seasons Hotel in the Seychelles
Crown Prince Mohammad also visited Trump Tower the month before, in December 2016, not long after Trump won the election.
According to the Post’s account, Prince told congressional investigators that Mohammed met with then senior campaign advisor Steve Bannon in December, a few weeks before the Seychelles meeting.
It is against the law for foreigners to contribute to U.S. campaigns. It is not clear whether Mueller is probing more indirect uses of foreign money that could have allegedly used to benefit Trump.
Trump has repeatedly branded Mueller’s probe a ‘witch hunt,’ although on Tuesday he said ‘certainly there was meddling’ by the Russians in the U.S. election, although he said it did not affect the vote.
Erik Prince, former Navy Seal and founder of private military contractor Blackwater USA, arrives to testify during a closed-door House Select Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, November 30, 2017
‘The Russians had no impact on our votes whatsoever, but certainly there was meddling and probably there was meddling from other countries and maybe other individuals,’ Trump said at a joint news conference with Swedish Prime Minister Stephan Löfven.
Prince, the founder of the government security firm formerly known as Blackwater, spoke at the GOP convention and is the brother of Trump Education Secretary Betsy De Vos, and was an informal advisor to Trump’s campaign.