Mueller reportedly investigating $150,000 payment from Ukrainian billionaire to Trump Foundation

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.

The payment was solicited by Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and was the largest donation to the Donald J. Trump Foundation in 2015 from someone other than Trump, the Times reports. The Victor Pinchuk Foundation told the Times that Trump was approached to appear at the conference as a way to help "promote strengthened and enduring ties between Ukraine and the West." Cohen and Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow did not respond to requests for comment.

Article continues below

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Marcus S. Owens, the former head of the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, told the Times that Pinchuk's payment is "curious because it comes during a campaign and is from a foreigner and looks like an effort to buy influence." You can read more about the payment, as well as other documents related to Russians the Trump Organization has been ordered to hand over to Mueller, at The New York Times.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.