WASHINGTON--Donald Trump, Jr., the U.S. president's eldest son, met in August 2016 with an envoy representing the crown princes of United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
The meeting was first reported by the New York Times on Saturday and confirmed by an attorney representing Trump Jr. The meeting was a chance for the envoy to offer help to the Trump presidential campaign, according to The New York Times.
The newspaper said the meeting, held on Aug. 3, 2016, was arranged by Erik Prince, the founder and former head of private military contractor Blackwater, who attended the meeting. Joel Zamel, a co-founder of an Israeli consulting firm, was also in attendance.
Alan Futerfas, Trump Jr.'s attorney, said on Saturday that nothing came of the meeting. "Prior to the 2016 election, Donald Trump Jr. recalls a meeting with Erik Prince, George Nader and another individual who may be Joel Zamel," Futerfas said in an emailed statement. "They pitched Mr. Trump Jr. on a social media platform or marketing strategy. He was not interested and that was the end of it."
A company connected to Zamel also worked on a proposal for a "covert multimillion-dollar online manipulation campaign" to help Trump, utilizing thousands of fake social media accounts, the New York Times report said.
The envoy, Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, told Trump, Jr. that the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and the UAE were eager to help his father win the 2016 presidential election, the paper said. Since 1974, the United States has barred foreign nationals from giving money to political campaigns and it later barred them from donating to political parties. The campaign financing laws also prohibit foreign nationals from coordinating with a campaign and from buying an ad that explicitly calls for the election or defeat of a candidate.
