Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating a $150,000 payment made to the Donald J. Trump Foundation in 2015 by a Ukrainian steel magnate in exchange for President Trump appearing via video at a conference in Kiev, three people with knowledge of the matter told The New York Times.
The payment by Victor Pinchuk is part of a larger look at foreign money received by Trump and his associates ahead of the 2016 election, the Times reports. After being subpoenaed, the Trump Organization gave Mueller's team records regarding business with foreign nationals, including documents about Pinchuk's September 2015 donation. Trump appeared via video at the Pinchuk-sponsored Yalta European Strategy Conference that month, and he spent 20 minutes criticizing then-President Barack Obama and blaming his own halted delivery on a "terrible" sound system.
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