Advisor to Emirates with ties to Trump aides is cooperating with Special Counsel

[pnwmom]

Last edited Tue Mar 6, 2018, 09:17 PM - Edit history (3)

Source: NYTimes

WASHINGTON An adviser to the United Arab Emirates with ties to current and former aides to President Trump is cooperating with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and gave testimony last week to a grand jury, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Mueller appears to be examining the influence of foreign money on Mr. Trumps political activities and has asked witnesses about the possibility that the adviser, George Nader, funneled money from the Emirates to the presidents political efforts. It is illegal for foreign entities to contribute to campaigns or for Americans to knowingly accept foreign money for political races.

Mr. Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman who advises Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the effective ruler of the Emirates, also attended a January 2017 meeting in the Seychelles that Mr. Muellers investigators have examined. The meeting, convened by the crown prince, brought together a Russian investor close to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia with Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater and an informal adviser to Mr. Trumps team during the presidential transition, according to three people familiar with the meeting.

Mr. Naders cooperation in the special counsels investigation could prompt new legal risks for the Trump administration, and Mr. Naders presence at the Seychelles meeting appears to connect him to the primary focus of Mr. Muellers investigation: examining Russian interference during the 2016 presidential campaign.



Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/06/us/politics/george-nader-special-counsel-mueller-cooperating-seychelles.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

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JARED KUSHNER is also involved in all this.

Recall that he was mentioned in recent stories about the blockade of Qatar, which had been sought by the Emirates.

http://www.newsweek.com/jared-kushner-backed-qatar-blockade-after-qataris-wouldnt-finance-his-property-828847

Kushner Cos. spokeswoman Chris Taylor denied such brokering attempts occurred. To be clear, we did not meet with anyone from the Qatari government to solicit sovereign funds for any of our projects, Taylor told Newsweek in an email. To suggest otherwise is inaccurate and false.

The following month, Kushner and the White House supported a blockade of Qatar organized by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Due to the crisis, alliances in the region have shifted, with Qatarwhich holds the largest U.S. military base in the Middle Eastaligning more closely with Iran and Turkey.

ON UPDATE:

Here is CNN's story today on this.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/06/politics/george-nader-robert-mueller/index.html?srtwCNN030618george-nader-robert-mueller0721PMStory

Nader learned for the first time when he returned to Dulles that the special counsel was interested in him and the information he had about key sessions, at least two of which he personally attended.

The FBI agents with search warrants imaged his electronic devices and then served him with a grand jury subpoena ordering him to appear January 19, according to a person familiar with Nader's involvement. An agreement was reached that Nader appear for questioning with Mueller's investigators.

The December 2016 New York meeting occurred without the prior knowledge of the Obama administration. It was led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi. At least three members of the Trump team attended, including Kushner; Michael Flynn, then slated to become national security adviser; and Steve Bannon, strategist to the incoming President.

The existence of the meetings in New York and the Seychelles became public in report published by The Washington Post in April 2017, but much about them remains mysterious.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. The web grows weekly or almost daily

But it will take a lot of time to trace them all down, connect the dots, and cross all the t's and dot the i's.

Seems like dual lines of inquiry: financial, and Russian election interference.

How fast can they close this out?

And never much mention of Pence. Curious.

[gademocrat7]

2. Eric Prince evil brother of Betsy Devos.

Criminals everywhere in this administration.

[riversedge]

3. "The FBI agents with search warrants imaged his electronic devices and then served him with a grand

jury subpoena,,,: (January) And now he is cooperating. Mueller must have good information

[pnwmom]

4. This is the second person Mueller has served after landing in an airport.

These Trump people are going to be nervous every time they travel!

[wishstar]

5. To top it off, he was on his way to Mar a Lago to celebrate Trump's one yr anniversary

"He had intended to travel on to Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s Florida estate, to celebrate the president’s first year in office, but the F.B.I. had other plans, questioning him for more than two hours and seizing his electronics.

Since then, Mr. Nader has been questioned numerous times about meetings in New York during the transition, the Seychelles meeting and meetings in the White House with two of Mr. Trump’s senior advisers, Jared Kushner and Stephen K. Bannon, who has since left the administration.

The meeting in the Seychelles also took place against the backdrop of a larger pattern of secretive contacts between the Trump team and both the Russians and the Emiratis. In the weeks after the 2016 presidential election, Crown Prince Mohammed aroused the suspicions of American national security officials when they learned that he had breached protocol by visiting Trump Tower in Manhattan without notifying the Obama administration of his visit to the United States."

[dchill]

6. Rachel Maddow is covering this story right now.