Adviser to Emirates With Ties to Trump Aides Is Cooperating With Special Counsel
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. Trump’s team during the presidential transition, according to three people familiar with the meeting.
Prince was speaking for the Trump transition team,
and a Russian fund manager, Kirill Dmitriev, represented Mr. Putin, according to several people familiar with the meeting.
Mr. Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and a senior transition adviser, met at Trump Tower with Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to Washington at the time,
and discussed setting up a back channel to communicate with Moscow during the transition — circumventing American diplomatic channels normally used during a presidential transition.
After Crown Prince Mohammed met with Mr. Putin in 2013 in Moscow on a state visit, two investment arms of the government in Abu Dhabi committed to invest
$6 billion in the Russian Direct Investment Fund, eventually paying to build projects like roads, an airport and cancer treatment centers in Russia.
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.
He was in the Seychelles for a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed and Emirati officials, Mr.
Mr. Nader’s cooperation in the special counsel’s investigation could prompt new legal risks for the Trump administration,
and Mr. Nader’s presence at the Seychelles meeting appears to connect him to the primary focus of Mr. Mueller’s investigation: examining Russian interference during the 2016 presidential campaign.
