It’s easy to get a headache trying to understand all of the complexities surrounding the story of Russian collusion with the Trump presidential campaign. Whenever a new article appears in the media we hope that it will clarify what actually happened, but many times new information just serves to make things appear more complicated and confusing.
For example, when the New York Times ran its blockbuster story about a second Trump Tower meeting starring Donald Trump, Jr., it added an entirely new allegation concerning Trump collusion which has to be explored by Bob Mueller and his team. The Times story said that the second Don Jr./Trump Tower collusion meeting was with representatives of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and had nothing to do with Russia.
In other words the Trump campaign may have colluded with three foreign countries instead of just one. Things just got a lot more complicated for those of us trying to figure out what happened just from information that appears in the media.
But there is one important thing that did become more clear after the Times story ran, and that is the reason that Bob Mueller gave immunity to and cut a deal with the mysterious Lebanese businessman named George Nader.
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Nader has been a cooperating witness for Mueller ever since he was taken into custody by federal law enforcement officials in January as he got off a plane at Dulles Airport. But it’s never been clear WHY Mueller needed Nader’s testimony so much that he was willing to make a deal.
Now we know: Nader is the one person who knows everything that was said at the August, 2016 meeting in Trump Tower and also knows what happened at the mysterious Sychelles meeting with Erik Prince and a Russian oligarch.
Not only was Nader present at both of these meetings, but he was also acting as an intermediary among all the parties. He was working for the crown princes of both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and made several trips to Moscow also. He apparently was brokering deals between the Trump campaign and all of the many foreign players who wanted to throw massive amounts of money at them in order to buy influence with the U.S. government.
Consider this fascinating information from the website Vox:
“Nader’s Russia ties make it more likely that he has potentially important information to offer Mueller’s investigators about his own interactions with Trump’s associates, including Prince, Bannon, and Kushner. It seems increasingly possible that he has contacts deep inside Putin’s inner circle and could have acted as a messenger for key information about negotiations over how the US-Russian relationship could be improved.”
“For example, Nader could shed light on what actually went down at the Seychelles meeting and whether Prince and Dmitriev discussed any kind of quid pro quo between Putin and Trump tied to Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.”
Erik Prince may well be within Mueller’s cross hairs, especially since it is proven now that he lied about his involvement with the Trump campaign in his testimony to Congress.
Vox also had this to report:
“Just weeks after Nader wired $2.5 million to the finance chairman of the Republican National Committe, Broidy, through a company in Canada, Broidy began making large donations to members of Congress who were backing legislation critical of Qatar for its support of terrorism in the Middle East.”
So it appears that Nader was directly involved in giving money to the Republican Party to bribe members of Congress on behalf of his clients, Saudi Arabia and UAE, who are enemies of Qatar. He also appears to have offered money to Trump, Jr, in the second Trump Tower meeting. He may have broken a dozen different U.S. laws that Mueller could indict him for.
As the Times reported, Nader and Prince were both involved in arranging the second Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump, Jr. where they offered to illegally help his father become president:
“Erik Prince, the private security contractor and the former head of Blackwater, arranged the meeting, which took place on Aug. 3, 2016. The emissary, George Nader, told Donald Trump Jr. that the crown princes who led Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were eager to help his father win election as president.”
OK, let’s cut to the chase to avoid further confusion:
- George Nader was involved in getting money from several foreign countries and passing it on to people in the U.S., in order to buy influence with the Trump administration and with Republican members of Congress.
- George Nader was a witness to and involved in illegal activities of Erik Prince and Donald Trump, Jr..
- George Nader has been fully cooperating with Mueller’s investigation since January, so by now Mueller and his team know everything that Nader knows.
So now we also know who mystery man George Nader really is: he is the person who has all the information Bob Mueller needs to put both Erik Prince and Donald Trump, Jr., in jail.
Press reports about what happened are confusing, but we know that Mueller and his team are not confused. They know everything that happened, and they have all the evidence they need for many more indictments that are sure to come very soon, if not for the president, at least for his inner circle and members of his family.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
