Report: Adviser to Emirates with ties to Trump aides cooperating with Mueller

George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman with ties to current and former aides of President Trump, is cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and testified in front of a grand jury last week, two people familiar with the matter told The New York Times.

Nader, an adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, has been questioned several times by investigators about meetings he attended in New York during the Trump transition and in the White House with Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, and former chief strategist Stephen Bannon. Mueller has asked other witnesses about the possibility that Nader illegally funneled money from the Emirates to Trump's campaign, the Times reports.

Mueller is also reportedly interested in a meeting Nader attended in the Seychelles in January 2017, which was set up by the crown prince. Nader met with a Russian investor close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater and an informal adviser to Trump during the transition. Intelligence agencies learned about the meeting right before Trump's inauguration, with its purpose a mystery. You can read more about the players at this Seychelles meeting and the crown prince's secret meeting at Trump Tower during the transition at The New York Times.

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