Blackwater founder Erik Prince made headlines a couple weeks ago when the Washington Post reported his January meeting with a close Vladimir Putin ally in the Seychelles islands. Now Bloomberg is filling in the details about just how closely associated Prince was with Trump aides around the election last fall and shortly thereafter as Trump's governing team took shape. It turns out Prince, brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, had quite a bit of influence—particularly with then-national security adviser Michael Flynn—even though he kept a low profile and never had a formal role.
According to people familiar with his activities, Prince entered Trump Tower through the back, like others who wanted to avoid the media spotlight, and huddled with members of the president-elect’s team to discuss intelligence and security issues. The conversations provide a glimpse of Prince’s relationship with an administration that’s distanced itself from him since the Washington Post reported earlier this month that Prince had met with a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Seychelles in January.
That island encounter was the latest in a series of conversations between Trump advisers and Russians that have come to light as U.S. investigators probe allegations that Russia interfered with the presidential election.
The White House has downplayed Prince's connection to Trump's inner circle, with press secretary Sean Spicer saying he played "no role in the transition." But a handful of sources say that on several occasions Prince offered Trump aides advice on combatting terrorism and reconfiguring the U.S. intelligence community.
Not that the intelligence community couldn't use some smart analysis, but Prince likely isn't the guy you want offering it. The contract security company he founded, Blackwater, is perhaps best known for employing several guards who were convicted of gunning down 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007. The episode provided one of the lowest moments in U.S.-Iraq relations following the war. Prince wasn't directly associated with the fatal shooting, but the actions of people under his charge don’t exactly inspire confidence in his insights on national security issues.