Blackwater founder Erik Prince says he's cooperating with Mueller's Russia probe

Blackwater founder Erik Prince tells the Daily Beast that he has been cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Speaking of the Russia investigation, Prince says that he's been cooperating with Mueller, although he insists that his efforts to set up a back channel between the Trump transition team and the Russian government were completely legal and ethical.

"I certainly understand the intense interest in the investigation and certainly some of the wild-eyed reporting in the media," he said. "I have spoken voluntarily to Congress and I also cooperated with the special counsel."

Prince also defended President Donald Trump's efforts to establish a strong working relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"As I've said before, if Franklin Roosevelt can work with Joseph Stalin to defeat German fascism, Nazi fascism, national socialist fascism, then certainly Donald Trump can work with Putin to defeat Islamic fascism," he said. "And I think good statesmanship could even start to drive a wedge between Russian policy and Iran policy because we can disagree vehemently on their policy in Ukraine but we don’t have to be, certainly, their enemy in the Middle East."