Lawmaker seeks to question businessman in Russia probe

WASHINGTON » The top Democrat on the House intelligence committee said Thursday that he wants to question a Lebanese-American businessman who is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California told reporters he would like George Nader to appear before the panel and for another witness, Erik Prince, to return for additional questioning to clear up seemingly inconsistent accounts about meetings last year in the Seychelles that also involved a Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin.

Nader was approached by law enforcement at an airport in January and has agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation, testifying last week before a grand jury Mueller has been using in Washington, according to a per- son with knowledge of the probe who was not authorized to discuss it on the record and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Among the things Mueller’s office has been interested in hearing about from Nader are the January 2017 conversations in the Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday night that Mueller’s office was told the Seychelles meetings were part of an attempt to establish a back channel between the Trump administration and the Kremlin. Prince, who founded the Blackwater private security firm, said in an interview with the House intelligence committee that there was no effort to set up a back channel and that he was not representing the Trump administration while in the Seychelles.

On Thursday, Schiff said he wanted the committee to hear from both men to “determine which account is accurate.”

“This has obviously been a recurrent issue during the investigation — whether there were meetings designed to set up secret back channels,” he said.

Meanwhile on Thursday, President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski again refused to answer some questions as part of the House intelligence committee’s Russia probe, becoming the latest in a string of witnesses to balk at some of the panel’s inquiries.

Lewandowski’s second visit to the panel ended after about three hours. Lewandowski appeared angry as he left the meeting, telling reporters as he walked out of the Capitol that his two interviews with the panel were “12 hours of my life I’ll never get back.”

Minutes later, Schiff said that Lewandowski refused to answer questions about conversations he had with Trump or other White House officials after the day Trump was elected.