Ex-US attorney tells Maddow Kushner adviser's airport confrontation with FBI almost as shocking as his child porn charges
As more information about Lebanese-American businessman and onetime Jared Kushner adviser George Nader comes to light, a former U.S. attorney tells MSNBC's Rachel Maddow that the circumstances surrounding his cooperation with the special counsel are significant.
Responding to news that Nader was once indicted in the 80's on child pornography charges and later had his case dismissed when the government's warrant was declared invalid, Maddow asked Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney in Michigan, to further describe what led to the Lebanese-American businessman being thrust into the spotlight.
Nader, Maddow noted, has been cooperating with Mueller since FBI agents confronted him at Washington, D.C.'s Dulles Airport in January — a divergence from Mueller's typical modus operandi.
"It's very significant they met him at the airport as he got off a plane," McQuade said. "This is not the way we've seen Robert Mueller doing business where he reaches out, schedules an interview, has them come in at a time of convenience. "
"It's quite possible, as we saw with [indicted Trump campaign aide] George Papadopoulos, that they actually had criminal charges they charged him with and arrested him at that time," she continued. "We don't know that. It could have been a confrontation we could arrest you or would you prefer to talk with us and instead be a witness. If they had a search warrant to seize electronic devices, those may have provided to be very fruitful."
"It seems like Robert Mueller was very keen to talk to him as quickly as possible and not let him get away and lose another moment," McQuade concluded.
A day prior to the bombshell Atlantic report on Nader's child porn arrest, the New York Times reported that Nader has informed the special counsel that a January 2017 meeting between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and Russian officials in the Seychelles was intended to set up a backchannel between the Trump administration and Russia. Prince has repeatedly denied to media and congressional investigators that the meeting was anything other than a coincidence.