Exclusive: Mueller's team questions Russian oligarch about payments to Cohen

By Kara Scannell and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN

Updated 6:30 PM ET, Tue May 8, 2018

[....] What FBI agents wanted to know

FBI agents asked Vekselberg about payments his company's American affiliate, Columbus Nova, made to Cohen, according to one source. The Russian was questioned as well about $300,000 in political donations by Andrew Intrater, Vekselberg's American cousin who is the head of Columbus Nova, sources said.

Intrater was also questioned by Mueller's investigators, two sources told CNN. Last month, Vekselberg was placed on the US government's list of sanctioned individuals, prohibiting him from traveling to the US.

The payments occurred at the same time Cohen was trying to build a consulting and legal business after the election and around the time he left the Trump Organization. [....]

After publication, Columbus Nova provided a statement from its attorney, Richard Owens.

"Columbus Nova is a management company solely owned and controlled by Americans," the statement said. "After the inauguration, the firm hired Michael Cohen as a business consultant regarding potential sources of capital and potential investments in real estate and other ventures. Reports today that Viktor Vekselberg used Columbus Nova as a conduit for payments to Michael Cohen are false. The claim that Viktor Vekselberg was involved or provided any funding for Columbus Nova's engagement of Michael Cohen is patently untrue. Neither Viktor Vekselberg nor anyone else other than Columbus Nova's owners, were involved in the decision to hire Cohen or provided funding for his engagement."

Later Tuesday, Eric Kosta, general counsel of Columbus Nova, sent this statement: "As the General Counsel of Columbus Nova, I can confirm that the company is 100% owned and controlled by Americans. Any suggestion that at any point in time Viktor Vekselberg or any of his companies owned or exercised any control over Columbus Nova is patently untrue."

Intrater did not respond to requests for comment. An attorney for Vekselberg did not respond to a request for comment, nor did representatives for his company in Russia. Cohen did not respond to a request for comment [....]

Trump Told His Lawyers He Knows Nothing About Michael Cohen's Business

By Brian Bennett @ Time.com, May 9

President Trump told his lawyers on Tuesday night he didn’t know about payments made to his personal attorney by a Russian oligarch and businesses lobbying the federal government.

After the payments were revealed by Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, and then largely confirmed by news accounts and the companies themselves, Trump lawyers Jay Sekulow and Rudy Giuliani called the president to ask him about it.

“I don’t know anything about it,” Trump told his lawyers, according Guiliani’s recollection of the phone call.

Guiliani said Trump’s legal team is confident Special Counsel Robert Mueller doesn’t believe the President had a role in the transactions. “He was good on it,” Guiliani said. “Nobody’s concerned about it. It doesn’t involve us. If it involved us Mueller would have kept it.”

Asked if the President directed Cohen to accept payments from companies like Novartis and AT&T, Guiliani said, “I have no idea. I doubt it.” Guiliani believes the news helps Trump’s legal team because it feeds the impression that the investigations are moving far from Russian interference.

“They are chasing rainbows,” Guiliani said. “This is yet another irrelevant thing that is made into a big thing.”

Given that the special counsel’s initial mandate is to investigate Russian collusion with Trump’s campaign, Trump’s legal team will “try to block them from everything they can do which would be far afield from that,” he said.

Discussions over whether Trump will agree to be interviewed by Mueller are “right now on hold,” he said.[....]