Key Mueller witness George Nader has just plead guilty to charges he was facing of possession of child pornography and child sex trafficking, earning him a sentence of at least 10 years behind bars.
If his name rings a bell, that’s because aside from being a witness for Mueller and former adviser to the United Arab Emirates, Nader is also facing accusations of illegally funnelling MILLIONS to political campaigns, including those of Hillary Clinton and Adam Schiff.
Take a look at the breaking news of his guilty plea that hit Twitter:
Fox News has more to say:
A political hobnobber who featured prominently as a key witness in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation faces at least a decade in prison after pleading guilty to charges of child sex trafficking and possessing child pornography.
Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, 60, entered a plea deal Monday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., admitting to transporting a 14-year-old boy from the Czech Republic to Washington, D.C., in 2000 to engage in sexual activity with him. He also admitted to possessing child pornography depicting infants or toddlers.
Nader is still separately under indictment in Washington along with seven others on charges of conspiring to conceal the source of more than $3.5 million in political donations to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign. Nader allegedly was reporting to an unnamed Middle Eastern government on that operation, which was intended to curry favor with Clinton, prosecutors in that case said.
In the meantime, the pornography charge itself carries a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence. Prosecutors agreed as part of the plea bargain to recommend a 10-year sentence when Nader is sentenced April 10, although the judge will be free to impose a significantly longer sentence of up to 30 years if she chooses.
Nader's name appears more than 100 times in Mueller's report. It details Nader's efforts to serve as a liaison for a January 2017 meeting between a Russian banker with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and members of President Trump's transition team.
Nader previously served as an adviser to the United Arab Emirates, a close Saudi ally, and in 2017 he wired $2.5 million to a top Trump fundraiser, Elliott Broidy, through a company in Canada. The goal was to persuade the U.S. to take a hard line against Qatar, a longtime American ally but now an adversary of the UAE.
CBS News added:
In exchange for making this plea, the U.S. government agreed to dismiss a 2019 indictment on charges stemming from a 2018 incident, when Nader was stopped at Washington-Dulles Airport for questioning by the FBI on an unrelated matter. While searching through three phones in his possession, the FBI agent uncovered several files containing child pornography.
Nader 60, was present in the Alexandria, Virginia federal court for the hearing before Judge Leonie M. Brinkema. He wore a green jumpsuit and stood next to his lawyer, Jonathan Jeffress, as they entered their 13-page plea.
He faces a maximum penalty of 50 years, but prosecutors agreed to recommend the mandatory minimum of ten years. Part of the plea included a request for ten years of concurrent imprisonment on each count.
Nader, a wealthy Lebanese-American businessman, still faces charges in Washington, D.C., for illegally funneling over $3 million in campaign contributions to Democrats and Republicans. He was also interviewed by the special counsel about whether he had channeled money from the United Arab Emirates to President Trump's 2016 election efforts.
On the indictment of George Nader concerning illegal donations to Democrat campaigns, the DOJ stated:
Earlier today, an indictment was unsealed against the CEO of an online payment processing company, and seven others, charging them with conspiring to make and conceal conduit and excessive campaign contributions, and related offenses, during the U.S. presidential election in 2016 and thereafter.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Assistant Director in Charge Timothy R. Slater of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.
A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia indicted Ahmad “Andy” Khawaja, 48, of Los Angeles, California, on Nov. 7, 2019, along with George Nader, Roy Boulos, Rudy Dekermenjian, Mohammad “Moe” Diab, Rani El-Saadi, Stevan Hill and Thayne Whipple. The 53 count indictment charges Khawaja with two counts of conspiracy, three counts of making conduit contributions, three counts of causing excessive contributions, 13 counts of making false statements, 13 counts of causing false records to be filed, and one count of obstruction of a federal grand jury investigation. Nader is charged with conspiring with Khawaja to make conduit campaign contributions, and related offenses. Boulos, Dekermenjian, Diab, El-Saadi, Hill, and Whipple are charged with conspiring with Khawaja and each other to make conduit campaign contributions and conceal excessive contributions, and related offenses.
According to the indictment, from March 2016 through January 2017, Khawaja conspired with Nader to conceal the source of more than $3.5 million in campaign contributions, directed to political committees associated with a candidate for President of the United States in the 2016 election. By design, these contributions appeared to be in the names of Khawaja, his wife, and his company. In reality, they allegedly were funded by Nader. Khawaja and Nader allegedly made these contributions in an effort to gain influence with high-level political figures, including the candidate. As Khawaja and Nader arranged these payments, Nader allegedly reported to an official from a foreign government about his efforts to gain influence.
A complete list of his donations can be found here.
Join the conversation!
Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!