1
00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:07,560
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Law Podcast. I'm June Grosso. Every

2
00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:10,440
Speaker 1: day we bring you insight and analysis into the most

3
00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:13,440
Speaker 1: important legal news of the day. You can find more

4
00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:18,000
Speaker 1: episodes of the Bloomberg Law Podcast on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud

5
00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:22,639
Speaker 1: and on Bloomberg dot com Slash Podcasts. Is special counsel

6
00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:26,639
Speaker 1: Robert Mueller broadening his investigation on Russia's influence over the

7
00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:30,159
Speaker 1: election to include influenced by the Emirates. According to The

8
00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:34,280
Speaker 1: New York Times, George Nader, and Lebanese American businessman who

9
00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:36,720
Speaker 1: was an advisor to the de facto ruler of the

10
00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:40,440
Speaker 1: United Arab Emirates, is now a focus of Mueller's investigation,

11
00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:45,479
Speaker 1: with investigators questioning him and other witnesses for information about

12
00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,800
Speaker 1: any possible attempts by the Emirates to buy influence by

13
00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:53,040
Speaker 1: directing money to Trump's presidential campaign. Joining me as Andrew kNN,

14
00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:57,040
Speaker 1: professor at Fordham University Law School. Andrew, there's a lot

15
00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:01,880
Speaker 1: of sketchy information about Nader um including under the radar

16
00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:04,600
Speaker 1: interference in the Middle East and a guilty plead to

17
00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:08,400
Speaker 1: a misdemeanor charge of providing one million dollars in illegal

18
00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,680
Speaker 1: gifts to New York State pension authorities. What do we

19
00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:14,959
Speaker 1: know about him generally in his connections with the Trump campaign.

20
00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:19,240
Speaker 1: So there's been a little bit of reporting about this

21
00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:20,920
Speaker 1: in the last month and then the big New York

22
00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:23,920
Speaker 1: Time story, um, you know, just over the past days,

23
00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:26,959
Speaker 1: but it doesn't provide that much information about his his

24
00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,080
Speaker 1: relationship with the Trump campaign. What what it's been saying

25
00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:34,000
Speaker 1: is that he was a visitor during the early months

26
00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,440
Speaker 1: of the White House and frequently was there either because

27
00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:40,600
Speaker 1: Bannon or Jared Kushner wanted him to be, and was

28
00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:42,520
Speaker 1: seen a number of times at the White House. But

29
00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:45,839
Speaker 1: in terms of his involvement in the campaign, there really

30
00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:49,000
Speaker 1: hasn't been uh, you know, public reporting that's fleshed out

31
00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:52,120
Speaker 1: what that might have been. The Times reported that he

32
00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:55,559
Speaker 1: received that he received a detailed report from a top

33
00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:59,120
Speaker 1: Trump fundraiser, Elliott Proidy, who has hundreds of millions of

34
00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:03,560
Speaker 1: dollars in contracts allegedly with the U. A E. Asking

35
00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,320
Speaker 1: for and he wanted a private meeting with the President

36
00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:11,240
Speaker 1: and the Saudi Crown Prince. What what about the connection

37
00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:16,680
Speaker 1: there and that report that he got. It's you know, again,

38
00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:20,120
Speaker 1: it's a bit sketchy, but it seems that that Nader

39
00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:24,760
Speaker 1: has a business relationship with this American security company that

40
00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:27,959
Speaker 1: apparently has a very large contract for providing you know,

41
00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:32,080
Speaker 1: some types of security contracting for the United Arab Emirates

42
00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:35,760
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, the United Arab Emirates and and

43
00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,200
Speaker 1: the Saudis have have been quite close and obviously there

44
00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,320
Speaker 1: was a lot of sort of diplomatic back and forth

45
00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:46,400
Speaker 1: between the Trump people in the Saudias and the Emirates

46
00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,800
Speaker 1: a little while ago when they were blockading Cutter, their neighbor.

47
00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:54,120
Speaker 1: That the that the Saudis and the Emiraties were upset

48
00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:56,560
Speaker 1: about because of the Cutter support, as I thought for

49
00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,120
Speaker 1: sort of politicized Islam. So there's sort of a a

50
00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:05,000
Speaker 1: murky mix of money and Middle Eastern politics here that

51
00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:08,160
Speaker 1: may have some intersection with the you know, with with

52
00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:10,800
Speaker 1: the Trump scandals that Muller has been looking at, but

53
00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:14,160
Speaker 1: it's a little unclear yet what that might be. We

54
00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:18,359
Speaker 1: keep hearing about different aspects of or we think they're

55
00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:20,400
Speaker 1: different aspects that could have been there from the beginning

56
00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:23,680
Speaker 1: for all we know of Mahler's inquiry. Would this be

57
00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:29,000
Speaker 1: a broadening of these investigations or just another avenue he's

58
00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,640
Speaker 1: looking down if you certainly could be a broadening, but

59
00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:36,640
Speaker 1: that's absolutely within the scope that he's been authorized to have.

60
00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:40,240
Speaker 1: From the beginning of the order by Deputy Attorney General

61
00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:44,360
Speaker 1: Rosenstein that appointed Muller made quite clear that Muller had

62
00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,240
Speaker 1: the authority not just to investigate links between the Russian

63
00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:50,560
Speaker 1: government and the Trump campaign, but also, as the order said,

64
00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:54,760
Speaker 1: any matters that would arise directly from that investigation. So

65
00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:57,320
Speaker 1: we saw for example, with Paul Manaford and with Rick

66
00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:00,800
Speaker 1: Gates and you know, their indictments for or you know,

67
00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:03,360
Speaker 1: money wandering in bank fraud and tetra. You know, those

68
00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:06,800
Speaker 1: those were not directly about the you know, the Trump

69
00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:10,440
Speaker 1: Russa relationship, but arose out of Muller's investigation. And certainly,

70
00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:13,120
Speaker 1: you know, it's possible that you know something about you

71
00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:16,320
Speaker 1: a e influence on the Trump campaign or perhaps even

72
00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:19,440
Speaker 1: illegally giving money to the Trump campaign was something that

73
00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:22,240
Speaker 1: Mueller came across while, you know, while interviewing people, and

74
00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:25,280
Speaker 1: therefore decided to pursue I want to turn to a

75
00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:29,320
Speaker 1: Muller grand jury subpoena. According to Axios, UH they got

76
00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:32,560
Speaker 1: ahold of a grand jury subpoena given to a witness

77
00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:36,479
Speaker 1: and it was for all communications, emails, text, handwritten notes

78
00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:41,039
Speaker 1: that this witness sent and received from November one to

79
00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:45,720
Speaker 1: the President regarding ten top Trump campaign officials, including I

80
00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:49,080
Speaker 1: mean they go from Korey Lewandowski, Donald Trump, Junior, Hope Picks,

81
00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:52,799
Speaker 1: Paul Man of Fort Rick Gates, Steve Bannon, Roger Stone,

82
00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:57,120
Speaker 1: and tell us. I mean, is this unusual to have

83
00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:01,520
Speaker 1: this broad and inquiry and to have it, uh, you know,

84
00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:08,359
Speaker 1: sort of focused on ten specific Trump campaign officials present reformer. No,

85
00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:11,480
Speaker 1: that sounds quite normal. I mean they've you know, the

86
00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:14,400
Speaker 1: core of the of the Mueller inquiry is about possible

87
00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:17,080
Speaker 1: coordination between the Russian government and the Trump campaign, and

88
00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:21,680
Speaker 1: that sounds like a subpoena seeking you know, the communications

89
00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:25,200
Speaker 1: and other kinds of documents about Trump campaign members. So

90
00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:28,600
Speaker 1: I mean that that sounds like a like a reasonable

91
00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:30,680
Speaker 1: kind of request that you had seen an investigation of

92
00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:35,000
Speaker 1: this type. So we didn't have any indictments last week

93
00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:39,000
Speaker 1: at last Friday. So where where does where do you

94
00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:42,159
Speaker 1: see Mueller's investigation standing now? Some people say, well, it

95
00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,240
Speaker 1: appears to be you know, reaching the White House, and

96
00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:48,440
Speaker 1: perhaps it will be over soon, and others say, no,

97
00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:52,560
Speaker 1: it has a long way to go. Well, I guess, sure,

98
00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:54,440
Speaker 1: I guess the first thing, that's just a note of humility.

99
00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:58,159
Speaker 1: I mean, the Muller team has been very leakproof. You know,

100
00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:00,760
Speaker 1: we saw that, you know, we had guilty please from

101
00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,120
Speaker 1: a number of people come without any advance you know,

102
00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:05,440
Speaker 1: leaking or press reporting about it at all. So I

103
00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:07,000
Speaker 1: think the first thing is that, you know, we really

104
00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:09,840
Speaker 1: don't know, um what what Mueller is doing. They've been

105
00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:12,400
Speaker 1: very good at keeping secrets, but um, you know, I'd

106
00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:14,440
Speaker 1: be surprised if this is wrapping up quickly. I mean

107
00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:18,520
Speaker 1: the Gates and and Papadopoulis and Michael Flynn, the former

108
00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:22,200
Speaker 1: National Scarity advisor all got generous plea deals, presumably because

109
00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:26,039
Speaker 1: they can provide information and lead to more prosecutions. All right, well,

110
00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:28,680
Speaker 1: thank you as always for being here with us and

111
00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:31,760
Speaker 1: helping us to sort through this and and try to

112
00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:35,000
Speaker 1: figure out where that investigation is going. It's certainly going

113
00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,080
Speaker 1: in many different directions as at once. Thanks Andrew. That's

114
00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:42,000
Speaker 1: Andrew Kent. He's a professor at Fordham University Law School.

115
00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,160
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Bloomberg Law podcast. You can

116
00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:48,920
Speaker 1: subscribe and listen to the show on Apple podcasts, SoundCloud

117
00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:52,880
Speaker 1: and on bloomberg dot com slash podcast. I'm June Brasso.

118
00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:54,680
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg