The brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos reportedly met with someone close to Russian President Vladimir Putin in January in an effort to create an off-the-record communications link between Putin and President Donald Trump.
The Washington Post reports that Erik Prince, who founded the Blackwater security firm in 1997, traveled to the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean for the two-day meeting that began Jan. 11. The alleged encounter was organized by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, and his brother, who serves as the UAE's national security adviser.
The UAE allegedly got involved because it wanted Russia to cut back its relationship with Iran.
The Post reported that the meeting was an unofficial attempt to create a backchannel between the Kremlin and the White House. It's unclear if either country's leadership was involved in the meeting, but both Prince and Zayed al-Nahyan visited Trump Tower on separate occasions during the presidential transition, the Post notes.
The Seychelles meet-up is apparently being investigated by the FBI as the bureau looks into Russia's meddling in last year's U.S. presidential election.
The White House told the Post Prince did not have any role in Trump's transition.
"We are not aware of any meetings and Erik Prince had no role in the transition," White House press secretary Sean Spicer told the Post.
A spokesperson for Prince said, "Erik had no role on the transition team. This is a complete fabrication. The [Seychelles] meeting had nothing to do with President Trump."
The FBI has been investigating how far Russia went in getting involved in the election, and that includes alleged ties between Trump and/or his team and Russian officials. Trump has repeatedly denied having any ties to the Russian government, and no concrete evidence has surfaced — although there has been no shortage of news reports that suggest some level of wrongdoing occurred.
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