Overnight, new information emerged on the Trump–Russia investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. While this news didn’t come with any fresh indictments—yet—it did expand the range of potential areas of the investigation to include a meeting held in the Indian Ocean. And it offered up a new potential charge against Trump: witness tampering.
A week before Trump’s inauguration, representatives from the United Arab Emirates hosted a secret meeting held in the Seychelles archipelago off the coast of Africa in the southern Indian Ocean. Present at the meeting was Erik Prince, brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and founder of the mercenary organization Blackwater. Also present at this meeting was a Russian official with close ties to Vladimir Putin and fat wads of Russian money to distribute. As early as April of 2017, the meeting had been identified as an attempt to set up a back channel between the Trump White House and Moscow. And the FBI was already looking into it.
U.S. officials said the FBI has been scrutinizing the Seychelles meeting as part of a broader probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and alleged contacts between associates of Putin and Trump. The FBI declined to comment.
However, congressional testimony from Prince denied any such effort. In fact, Prince passed off his meeting with Russian Kirill Dmitriev, the head of a government-controlled “sovereign wealth fund,” as a chance encounter, saying that the two meet in passing only because they were at the same hotel.
Overnight, the Washington Post reported renewed interest in this meeting, with Robert Mueller adding it to the formidable list of contacts between Trump’s team and Russia.
Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has gathered evidence that a secret meeting in Seychelles just before the inauguration of Donald Trump was an effort to establish a back channel between the incoming administration and the Kremlin — apparently contradicting statements made to lawmakers by one of its participants, according to people familiar with the matter.
Between last April’s interest and Mueller’s renewed investigation of the event, George Nader, a Lebanese American businessman who helped plan the meeting, testified before Mueller’s Grand Jury. His testimony: Erik Prince lied to Congress. There was nothing random about the meeting between Prince and Dmitriev.
According to Nader, the whole meeting was planned in advance to talk over US–Russia relations. Prince was not an official member of Trump’s transition team, but was seen at the transition offices shortly before he left for the meeting. Nadler’s testimony—and the fact that Prince hasn’t been invited to talk to the Grand Jury—makes it seem increasingly likely that Betsy DeVos’s brother may soon be on the receiving end of an indictment.
Prince told lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee that he did not plan to meet Dmitriev in Seychelles but that once he was there discussing possible business deals with UAE officials, they unexpectedly suggested that he visit the hotel bar and meet Dmitriev.
In fact, Prince went on at some length about the trivial nature of his discussion with Dmitriev, which he claimed lasted no more than 30 minutes. Since Prince was under investigation by the FBI a year ago, it seems likely that all of those lies—including the idea that he wasn’t there to represent Trump—were repeated to FBI agents. Which is exactly the kind of thing that has generated a neat indictment for others in the investigation.
That Seychelles meeting is also getting a look because of concerns that foreign contributions may have reached the Trump campaign.
Mr. Mueller appears to be examining the influence of foreign money on Mr. Trump’s political activities and has asked witnesses about the possibility that the adviser, George Nader, funneled money from the Emirates to the president’s political efforts. It is illegal for foreign entities to contribute to campaigns or for Americans to knowingly accept foreign money for political races.
Presumably that’s something that Nader himself was asked about before the Grand Jury. And he may have also been asked about it by Trump, because the other big story of the evening was that Donald Trump himself was questioning witnesses about their experience with Mueller.
The special counsel in the Russia investigation has learned of two conversations in recent months in which President Trump asked key witnesses about matters they discussed with investigators, according to three people familiar with the encounters.
Trump has apparently gone past probing members of his staff who talked to Mueller about what they were asked, and what they said. He’s also reacted to this information by suggesting they issue statements to cover up his actions.
In one episode, the president told an aide that the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, should issue a statement denying a New York Times article in January. The article said Mr. McGahn told investigators that the president once asked him to fire the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. Mr. McGahn never released a statement and later had to remind the president that he had indeed asked Mr. McGahn to see that Mr. Mueller was dismissed, the people said.
Giving staff members who had appeared before Mueller a grilling puts them in an impossible position. They’re being asked to violate any instructions they may have been given about withholding the details of their time before Mueller or the Grand Jury. And, in the case of McGahn at least, being asked to issue statements in contradiction of their own testimony. That doesn’t just put Trump in the position of witness tampering, but opens up his staffers to indictments for making false statements.
One interesting point out of all this is that in at least two cases, Mueller learned about private conversations between Trump and those he had interviewed. That information may have come up in discussions with another staffer—or it may suggest that someone in Trump’s White House is keeping open a different kind of “back channel,” one that goes straight to the special counsel’s office.