Trump Jr. paid $50,000 for speech at think tank headed by man who nominated Putin for Nobel Peace Prize

Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of President Donald Trump, was paid $50,000 to deliver a speech last year at a think tank that was founded by a man who nominated Russian President Vladimir Putin for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump Jr. gave a talk at the Ritz Hotel in Paris during a conference being sponsored by the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs, a think tank ostensibly dedicated to ending the civil war in Syria.

CPFA President Fabien Baussart -- a wealthy French businessman -- has regularly cooperated with Russia in its efforts to end the conflict through its military support of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In fact, Baussart was so impressed with Russia's work in this area that he even used it as a justification for nominating Putin for the Nobel Peace Prize this past December.

“They are openly linked with the Russians,” Renaud Girard, who moderated the session Trump attended, told ABC News. “They don’t hide it at all.”

Baussart's wife, a Syrian-born woman named Randa Kassis, is also "a leader of a political faction endorsed by Russia in negotiations to end the war in Syria," the Journal reports.

Baussart is described in French media as "a former lobbyist for Russian oligarchs," according to ABC News.