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Feds Bring Fresh Indictment of Trump Campaign’s Nader

On top of an already pending child-sex indictment, federal prosecutors brought campaign-finance charges late Tuesday against a lobbyist cited dozens of times in the Mueller report.

WASHINGTON (CN) — On top of an already pending child-sex indictment, federal prosecutors brought campaign-finance charges late Tuesday against a lobbyist cited dozens of times in the Mueller report.

George Nader, 60, was first arrested in June over bestiality pornography found on his cellphones featuring toddler-age boys, baby goats and other farm animals. As that case in the Eastern District of Virginia has grown, Nader now faces a superseding indictment contending that he brought a 14-year-old Czech boy to the United States for sex.

Nader’s court troubles magnified Tuesday with new indictment filed in Washington that says he concealed excessive campaign contributions — more than $3.5 million — to the Hillary Clinton campaign in the 2016 presidential race. 

Though the indictment does not refer to the candidate by name, campaign-finance records clearly reveal that person to be Clinton.

Prosecutors in the Virginia case, where Nader has pleaded not guilty, have estimated the defendant’s net worth at $3 million. This figure includes at least $1 million in cyber currency, a villa in Abu Dhabi and a chalet in Lebanon. 

While indicted now over his Clinton contributions, Nader is also known to have served as an informal adviser on the 2016 campaign to elect Republican candidate Donald Trump. Investigators believe the Trump campaign tapped Nader, a longtime diplomatic negotiator in the Middle East, to lock in ties with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

At the time of his arrest, Nader’s phone showed he had been exchanging text messages with the Emirati crown prince, Mohammed bin Zayed, as well as Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince.

The report by former special counsel Robert Mueller on Russian election meddling notes that Nader provided key details about a January 2017 meeting in the Seychelles that he helped arrange for Trump associate Erik Prince and Kirill Dmitriev, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Dmitriev runs the Kremlin’s $10 billion sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Nader told the special counsel’s office that the Prince-Dmitriev meeting occurred specifically to discuss the development of a diplomatic back channel between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Nader’s 53-count indictment in Washington charges seven other defendants, including Lebanese businessman Ahmad “Andy” Khawaja, 48.

Prosecutors say that the contributions to the Clinton campaign made out in the names of Khawaja, his wife, and his company “in reality ... were funded by Nader.”

The indictment makes veiled reference to a fundraiser Khawaja co-hosted for Clinton in August 2016. The Associated Press reported in a 2018 investigation that Khawaja’s donations earned him access the Clinton campaign followed by an Oval Office visit with Trump after his inauguration. 

Khawaja is also charged with obstruction: Prosecutors say he interfered in the grand jury investigation in June and July 2019 by feeding a witness false information about Nader and his connection to Khawaja’s company. 

Courtney Forrest and Jonathan Jeffress, attorneys for Nader with the firm Kaiser Dillon, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The other defendants charged Tuesday are Roy Boulos, Rudy Dekermenjian, Mohammad “Moe” Diab, Rani El-Saadi, Stevan Hill and Thayne Whipple. 

Categories / Criminal, Politics

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