A key witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation was arrested Monday on charges of allegedly transporting child pornography.
George Nader, a Lebanese American businessman who acted as a connection between President Trump’s circle and Russian and Middle East officials in 2016 and 2017, was charged in federal court in Virginia, according to the Justice Department.
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The charges against Nader were unsealed Monday after his arrest. He is accused of being in possession of a cellphone containing child pornography when he arrived at the Washington-Dulles International Airport on Jan. 17, 2018, from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Nader, 60, helped set up a January 2017 meeting in Seychelles between Trump associate and Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian official with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Nader was subpoenaed in January 2018 in Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. He reportedly testified to the grand jury about his interactions with Trump supporters.
He previously pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge in 1991. In that case, he was sentenced to six months in prison for transporting sexually explicit materials in foreign commerce.
