Special counsel Robert Mueller is examining a hedge-fund manager from New York who is friends with senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, due to his proximity to several meetings involving Trump associates and foreign nations, a new report says.
Richard Gerson has attracted Mueller’s interest because he was allegedly in Seychelles in January 2017 when Trump associate Erik Prince had a clandestine meeting with Russian and United Arab Emirates officials, NBC News reports.
While Gerson was in the Seychelles, he was in contact with the businessman who had arranged Prince’s meetings, George Nader, and the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. Additionally, Gerson had met Nader several weeks prior when Trump officials, Nader, and al-Nahyan held a covert meeting at the New York Four Seasons hotel.
However, a spokesperson for Gerson said that he was unaware of Prince’s meeting with al-Nahyan in the Seychelles, and also added that Gerson was only present at the Four Seasons meeting to escort former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
“Mr. Gerson was on vacation in the Seychelles prior to the meeting you reference,” a spokesperson for Gerson said, according to NBC. “He knew nothing about the meeting, had left before the meeting was reported to have taken place, and has never met or communicated with Erik Prince.”
The spokesperson also said in a later statement after NBC’s report was published that Gerson is not under “scrutiny or investigation” from Mueller.
“Your story today about Rick Gerson is completely wrong. Mr. Gerson is not under scrutiny or investigation by any agency including the Special Counsel’s office,” the spokesperson said in a statement to NBC.
It’s been reported that Mueller, who is probing if the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin, is investigating if Prince’s Seychelles meeting was an attempt to establish a backchannel between the Trump administration and the Kremlin.
