A UAE businessman linked to a probe of illegal donations to Donald Trump’s political campaign was paid by his country’s intelligence agency to spy on the U.S. President’s administration, The Intercept reported Monday. Rashid al-Malik received tens of thousands of dollars a month for gleaning information on Trump administration policy toward West Asia in 2017, the website said, citing a former U.S. official and documents. He has, however, “on numerous occasions, discussed various business ideas for UAE projects in the US,” the lawyer was quoted as saying. The Intercept report came after the Justice Department last week said George Nader, a well-connected Middle East fixer for the Trump campaign, was arrested for possessing child pornography. Nader was a witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election meddling.

Source: The Hindu June 11, 2019 16:22 UTC