A Lebanese-US businessman who acts as an adviser to the United Arab Emirates has reportedly come under the scrutiny of Robert Mueller, the special counsel who is probing Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.
Mueller's investigators have questioned George Nader in recent weeks over any possible attempts by the Emiratis to buy political influence over the Trump administration, the New York Times reported late Saturday.Citing sources familiar with the discussions, the Times said that the investigators were interested in whether the Emirates had directed money to support President Donald Trump in his election campaign and any role Nader might have in White House policymaking.
It was not clear how this line of inquiry was linked to Mueller's original focus on potential collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign.
But, Trump has supported the Emirati- and Saudi-led boycott of Qatar, despite Qatar being host to a major US base and even though it put him at odds with decades of US foreign policy.
Mueller last month charged 13 Russians over alleged interference in the 2016 election and has also charged Trump's ex-campaign manager Paul Manafort with financial crimes unrelated to the election.
He has also obtained a guilty plea from Rick Gates, who joined Trump's campaign when Manafort briefly became its manager in 2016, on charges of conspiracy and lying to the FBI in relation to lobbying work in Ukraine.
