Rachel Maddow shed light Wednesday on a less-reported scheme that special counsel Robert Mueller may be closing in on that could implicate the Trump administration.
According to Maddow, citing a New York Times report, Mueller is questioning a witness close to an operation that involved foreign governments essentially paying off the Trump administration under the guise of a fundraiser.
That cooperating witness, George Nader, could give special counsel investigators damning information, which has the potential to throw even more legal trouble toward the president. And as the MSNBC host pointed out, Nader has been granted immunity by Mueller, which means he could have key information.
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Rachel Maddow Reveals That Mueller Could Bust Trump For Accepting Foreign Government Payoffs #Maddow #Trump #Mueller pic.twitter.com/hoyLGw8BKc
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) March 22, 2018
Maddow explained all the ways the Trump administration has seemingly bowed to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates via U.S. policy changes, and said that if their money paid for these outcomes, it’s “very blatantly illegal”
The MSNBC host said:
If we’re talking about a foreign government paying for those outcomes, that’s very blatantly illegal. If that’s the case, if a foreign government has been paying off Trump administration or top Republican Party officials to get what they want from the U.S. Government, you would need somebody close to that scheme, you’d need somebody close to the inside of that kind of an operation to help prosecutors follow the money. … Not only has George Nader become a cooperating witness for Robert Mueller’s investigation, according to the “New York Times” tonight, Mueller’s prosecutors have just called him back for an additional round of testimony. … Mueller’s prosecutors reportedly called him back from overseas for a second round of testimony as of last week. And, they add this, crucially: “Mr. Nader has been granted immunity in a deal for his cooperation with the special counsel.” I believe this is the first time we’ve had any reporting about Mueller’s investigators offering immunity to anyone in exchange for something other than a guilty plea.
As Maddow pointed out, the fact that Mueller has granted immunity to Nader – a man who could follow the money in this potential foreign payoff scheme – shows that he has important information central to the investigation. That should terrify Trump.
Robert Mueller is coming at Trump from all angles
While most of the attention has appropriately been on Trump’s ties to Russia and his obstruction of the investigation into those ties, the news reported by the New York Times on Wednesday shows that Robert Mueller is approaching this investigation from countless angles.
The Russia-obstruction angle is obviously troubling and the evidence continues to pile up implicating Trump or his team. But it’s not the only aspect of this investigation that should concern the people in Trumpland, as Maddow pointed out on Wednesday.
Robert Mueller is clearly doing a lot of digging. It’s hard to believe that when he puts down the shovel at the end of this investigation, he won’t have some dirt with which to nail this corrupt president.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
