erik: what happened in the first half?> we are confident it will be in 2018 but the first or second half will depend on market conditions. hard for me to be specific on that because we haven't made the decision. erik: let me talk about the parameters. the size of the offering and what the company plans to vote? >> i expect to make a decision on that in the next couple of weeks. erik: $3 billion is the number discussed previously. is that still current? >> i think we will be around that range. they will have to make the final decision. i think we'll be in that range. erik: where is the point of trade? >> that is another very important decision. you have to decide how much to put on the market and where. these are all decisions we are currently making. erik: what is your bias? what is better? is it better to trade in london, new york, or here? >> i want what is best for the shareholders and i want what best for the long-term standing of the company. erik: which exchanges doing the best job marketing itself to you? >> both ar

erik: right.e have the sterling, we have the central europeans and all the rest of it, so yeah, but the renminbi is a very big part of the story, right. francine: i caught it up in time. i'm so happy. there it is. there on the left. erik: right. what's the problem, right? francine: what do we do from here? erik: what's the problem, right? guy: it's gone sideways. erik: where does it go from here? we will go higher. over this year, if i were a betting man, i would say maybe 5% or thereabouts. nothing too dramatic. guy: companies are already complaining about it now. francine: spain is. erik: they are, and yet their exports are still growing faster than global trade and g.d.p., so they're still getting market shares around the world. of course, if you're an exporter, it's nice to have a weaker currency. i prefer they didn't have it. guy: one of the e.c.b. guys was talking about this is as good as it gets for the e.c.b.i.e., the growth momentum story has been there, it's been fantastic. it gets harde

erik: i don't know what substantial means. >> [indiscernible] erik: many billions of dollars?> let's say $100 billion. erik: you have maintained a cash position. are you interested in working the cash position down? >> we are interested in a cash position that we can define. i can't answer that now. but we have a minimum threshold. are interested in knowing what you do in technology because you have an office in san francisco and you put $15 billion in softbank in the vision fund and the delta fund. besides softbank, what are you doing in technology? what investments have you made? >> there is no question that technology -- [indiscernible] we have deployed approximately $5 billion of that already. it is a very important platform for us. closely with very my friends and the management team that are doing a really exceptional job managing that. access and it's a new sector for us. we mobilize the theme there. erik: have you made investments yet? >> we have made a couple of small investments. erik: what can we expect in the future? >> [indiscernible] yousef: coming up next on the

erik i think is one frightening guy. of the current members of the intelligence committee said even after the testimony they had that he is the scariest person he ever met. i have to tell you, jeremy, at one point because on the floor, the house members can say anything they want without liability, and he threatened to sue me. i got a letter from their lawyers. even the he could not assume a, after take, i had my apartment in washington swept. he makes me very nervous. but this time i think that robert mueller may actually be catching up with erik prince and the kind of lies that just roll off his lips, the kind of description of what he did in the past -- which is clearly not true. lying to congress is against the law. what a coincidence that he met with all of these people in the seychelles. isn't that amazing? amy: that is congresswoman jan schakowsky of illinois talking about eric rentz, founder of blackwater. a lot to unpack, also talking with officials meeting of erik prince in january. erik prince, founder of blac

adam schiff wants to bring erik prince back for more testimony.e is also seeking testimony from george nader, reportedly special counsel mueller's newest witness. >>> cnbc is reporting president trump will announce his decision on aluminum and steel tariffs hours from now. he is set to meet with steel and aluminum workers today after nearly sparking a trade war. will he officially announce new tariffs or not? we'll stay with you on that. >>> we're watching the markets at this hour. wow, that's about as flat as it gets for the dow and other major markets. look where the market has been through the course of the morning. stay with us. you're watching "velshi & ruhle" live on msnbc. >>> there's a big fight happening inside the administration right now because most senior people in the white house know this is a really dumb policy, and the american people, the forgotten workers of even the rust belt states, they don't want to be drafted and be casualties in a stupid trade war. so there are a bunch of people inside the administration trying to talk the

erik: already.subscribed and not sure they'll have access to everything. if you're not, then no. you really would be more in structures that we're creating, things like a private read. we'll take an institutional product that most of the major global, whether it's cyberand wealth funds or corporate pension fund or accessing, and we'll create a structure that allows accredited investors to generate those returns as well. erik: how do these products differencer from the institutional class products, i'm thinking fee structure, for example, risk-return profile, or perhaps some other parameters. joan: so the fee structure is not all that different, actually. with a we're really trying to do is create institutional product, institutional pricing. but what is different oftentimes are the liquidity mechanisms. so many individuals don't want a 10-, 12-year lockup fund, so something like an interval fund or private read that can offer monthly or quarterly liquidity fits in their portfolio better but they wan

erik: did it cost you anything to leave?uest: i will not comment on the agreement between me and the government. erik: did you have to hand over any land or money, did you have to surrender shares? guest: when i say it is confidential and secret agreement, and arrangement taste on a confirmed understanding between may and the government, i have to respect that. i'm a saudi citizen. the king is my uncle. this is the role of saudi arabia. my interest is to maintain this kingdom and my kingdom also and to maintain the relationship between me and them. understand why i am asking these questions. there are people, fellow detainees who signed settlements and paid large fines. i want to know whether you are in the same boat or you are in a different camp. guest: that is why i did not want to be there. some of those people were there. i will not name names but i know them. quite a bit of them. that did commit crimes of theft and they were involved in bribes stealing funds from the government. we all know them very well. i know them.

erik: the market is telling us and nothing at the moment. goldman sachs trading up on the news lloyd blankfein may be preparing to leave the firm. what he appears to have been successfully as what every company wants to do and needs to do, pave the way for ceos secession. whether it will be harvey schwartz or david solomon is a question. it may be both. they have a long history of partnership in leadership. it may not be surprising if the board puts them both in place. sachs iss that goldman a firm rich in culture and the ceos job more than anything is to preserve the culture. if a client like howard says the culture is intact, that tells you as much as you need to know about what they will be like after lloyd blankfein is gone. vonnie: we will talk about this a lot more in the next couple of hours for the stock at 1.5% and the wall street journal report will be watercooler talk. lloyd blankfein preparing to make his exit by year end and the copresidents are there to take over and there will be a transfer of power. wonder if he is going out

erik: how often are you and he and contact questio?arely three days go by without texting or talking. erik: u.n. he talk almost every three days? >> we text a lot but we talk less frequently. barely a day goes without communicating. erik: what about your profile? domestically or internationally, will that have to change? god, many ofank the banks ideal with, they support me. there are many x heads of states that care about me after i left and during my detention. i thank specifically bill gates blankfeinline fine -- and president carter -- erik: they checked in on you? bill gates inquired about me so i appreciate that and i miss a lot of my friends. i read appreciate what they did. i thank them for the care about me and they say they will never let me down. that was the prince, the chairman of kingdom holding speaking with erik schatzker in an exclusive interview. now from riyadh. a fascinating account of what was his time and attention. of you get any more hints where he plans to invest next and where he plans to take his business? we

but that's something that erik prince denied furiously, including under oath. >> manu raju on capitol hill. >>> joining me now, jennifer rogers, professor, thank you for being with us. let's start where manu finished up, this meeting on the seychelles. "the washington post" is reporting something more than what we have here, which is that the special counsel is looking into the possibility that the trump team and at that point a transition team was looking to set up this back channel with russia. it was before the inauguration. what would be the problem with that? >> well, there is nothing wrong with an actual president, of course, and government setting up different channels to talk to different countries, whether, you know, out in the open or back channel, that's fine. but doing it before they took over and so close to the inauguration, i mean, why would you even bother if it is so close to the inauguration? it makes it seem like they're trying to make deals before he becomes the president. and he doesn't speak for the country before he becomes the president. so you get back into wh

erik prince and jared kushner as well. multiple reports jared kushner's tried to do this. what is it about back channels? what makes this particularly unusual? >> what makes this unusual is the question, why did they need a back channel? i think the reason is it goes back to when flynn was communicating with the russian ambassador kislyak about the sanctions and try to assure him the sanctions would not be carried out by the trump administration. they realized, i'm sure, at that point that conversations could be overheard by the intelligence community. one way to get around that is to meet in theseychelles. if you look at where the seychelles is located this is not like a bar in manhattan. this is in the middle of nowhere in the indian ocean. there's no way somebody by chance just happens to run into a good buddy of putin's in a bar in the seychelles. i'm surprised that there's more than one bar in the seychelles. the only logical conclusion that can come from any of this is, is that what they're talking about is the quid pro quo for the russians helping the trump campaign

david: erik schatzker turns us now.cinating interview with its alwaleed -- prince alwaleed. you spent an hour with him. give us the highlights we did not get to see. erik: you did see a bit of the highlights, and that is the amazing solidarity you hear from the prince with the rest of the royal family, including the game. from lot of criticism isnce alwaleed heard about characters, it -- his captors, his own family. he insisted he was not tortured. he stayed in a royal suite. he have a, was allowed to walk around, allowed to use the swimming pool. notably, he did not talk to anyone else in the ritz-carlton. he was allowed to make some phone calls to his family and his company, but that is the only contact he had with the outside world. he believes those calls were probably monitored. life inside the ritz-carlton in conditions, plush it is clear he is struggling with the aftermath of that expense. whether he likes it or not, and no matter how many times he insists that he is innocent, and he does, the government lumped h

part of one of these two meetings that erik prince had.rats are saying if he did meet with george nader, then perhaps he lied under oath to the house intelligence committee. at the same time we're now learning that robert mueller's team is looking into evidence about whether or not it was actually an effort to set up a back-channel discussion with russia, and that's something prince denied under oath. >> manu raju on capitol hill. we'll watch for corey lewandowski to arrive. in the meantime, joining me former fbi special agent asha rangappa. let's start with "the new york times." there's nothing illegal about asking a witness after the fact what you were asked as part of an investigation. people do that. lawyers often do that more than people that might be the focus of an investigation. it does happen. what gets interesting is that the president's conversation with don mcgahn, the white house special counsel where he asked don mcgahn to issue a correction about the story that the president told him to fire the special counsel. he said i ca

erik: in what industry? >> we are a holding company and we are open. i have heard that you are working with goldman sachs. >> yes, goldman sachs -- and i think mr. blankfein personally for his support in the deal up one product billion dollars -- this deal of $1.6 billion. right now, we are working why -- them and is and others. we do -- erik: would you consider restructuring kingdom holding to make it easier for people saudi -- and the other investments you have remain in the kingdom holding structure? >> that is what our ceo is. right now, their thinking and divesting to kingdom holding, it is ongoing. we already have an ongoing discussion now on that situation. mark: our very own erik schatzker speaking in an exclusive interview with prince talal. this is bloomberg. ♪ i will meet with arlene foster. we will come away with this and go to president trump. and thet trump: poseidon's, $1.4 billion, and what it does is it means many, many jobs. i am talking over 40,000 jobs in the united states. we make the best equipment in the world. saudi arabia is bu

>> if the story is correct, erik prince didn't tell the truth. a committee finding the truth would have him back in. if they concluded he lied, make a criminal referral to the department of justice. it is an important point. if he lied to bob mueller, we know what mueller would do. mueller would charge him with false statements and try to get him to flip. there is a question whether mueller can investigate his lie to congress, if it was a lie, without a referral. doj never investigated a lie to congress without giving a criminal referral. it is an important thing, what the committee does next. >> mike and matt, thank you for your insight today. i reesappreciate it. >>> coming up, taking action. florida lawmakers take a big step in the fight for gun control. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. liberty mutual stood with me when i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. i just snapped a photo and got an estimate in 24 hours. my insurance company definitely doesn't have that... you can leave worry behind when liberty stands

erik prince may have misled lawmakers in his testimony before the panel.was drilled about a meeting with the seychelles and whether it was used to set up a back-channel operation between trump and the russians. prince denied that but may not necessarily have been forthcoming about who was involved in the meeting. let's go to our senior congressional correspondent manu raju who is joining us right now. manu, what more have you learned? >> reporter: when prince came before this committee in late november, he was asked extensively about that meeting in the seychelles islands, asked about whether or not this was a back-channel effort in the discussion between the trump administration and the kremlin, something he denied furiously over several hours. he told the committee that he had two separate meetings there, one with united air emirates officials as well as one with a russian banker who uae officials insist the he meet with. he said there was no talk of policy, no talk of a back-channel or the like. one thing he did not disclose, wolf, was there was one oth

erik: investment bankers are like give me some.bviously teed up to be the existing deal, the biggest deal in technology history. intel reportedly coming in and saying maybe if things start to ky, we coulde han jump in as a defensive play. the broadcom and qualcomm deal itself seem to be going kind of smoothly from a shareholder perspective, but the government is saying that could be competitive concerns. they're trying to assuage those. april 5 is the date. intel is obviously just being smart here. intel was fairly quite when asked him -- coy when asked about it. we will see what happens. deal,rama around this which does not seem to be going away. david: it would not be a week at bloomberg if we did not cap john cryan. they have said they are going to do this. they're going to have a partial ideal. erik: this is in unmitigated win for cryan. they said they wanted to do this. valuation according to some folks bloomberg news talked to is ok, has room to run. it could be higher. a little over $2 billion, it obviously sets the asset ma

at the meeting is erik prince how mentioned, who is representing the trump transition team, a russianfficial close to russian president vladimir putin. officials from the united area emirates and a lebanese american businessman named george nader. what we're hearing, what we're reporting, this is an effort to establish this back channel. what erik prince told haw makers in november is again, he coincidently ran into people at this hotel. he went there as a private businessman, not as an emissary from the trump transition team and was discussing possible business deals with uae officials, and he's there, and they unexpectedly suggest he visit the hotel bar and meet the russian official who's very close to putin. he says he told officials he talked to the russian official for about 30 minutes or about the time it took him to drink a beer, nothing substantive in terms of the trump transition team at all. >> why would they want a secret back channel to the kremlin? >> well, this was, this is in the transition period. and this is is duriduring the tn the trump administration is believed to

goodbye, erik.nd then there's andrew rosenthal. [ laughs ] andrew owns la dogworks, this pet care place in l.a. that has everything from boarding, grooming, training, and a bunch of other things. i love the business model and i love anything to do with pets. but andrew, he was a complete maniac and he hated everyone. the only reason my partner is alive is because murder is illegal. he's going to get fired anyway. lemonis: why's that? because i [bleep] can't stand him. in the first day of filming, people typically are on their best behavior, but the really crazy ones, i think they have zero awareness. i remember andrew rosenthal being very aggressive, but then five minutes of being there, he was aggressive with me... i can make this businesses work with or without you! ...and his employees. no. i'm not going to put up with that! jesse failed miserably! he wouldn't listen to a [bleep] thing i say! i don't have to ask him time and time and time and time again! e-mail me the [bleep] schedule! just do it

do you think erik prince lied to the committee about the seychelles meeting? >> i don't know whether the public reports of what mr. nader may be saying are accurate or not. all i can say is if those reports are accurate, there is clearly a significant discrepancy between that version and what we heard in erik prince's testimony, which is accurate. i don't know. we should find out. but clearly both can't be true. it either was a back channel or it wasn't, it was either a meeting arranged as a result of other discussions in december in trump tower or it wasn't. and we need to get to the bottom of it. >> reporter: now, schiff wants both nader to come before the committee who has not testified before this panel, even as he's cooperating with robert mueller's investigation. and he also wants prince to return to this committee, provide more documents and records and answer more questions. that's something that republicans are not committing to yet. mike conway, the republican leading this investigation, declined to comment about this matter. and when we asked yester

they didn't need to have erik prince doing this work for them. they had all of these discussions about actually ideas that ran could wanter to u.s. national security interest and what we were doing in the obama administration. the other is the money. how is it ip flunsing the trump administration officials before they get into office and once they are in officer. -- office. >> they now have a new country to think about. what's the cig nif kasignificane trump campaign or with the u.s. government? >> well, it's still unclear. there's no question they have a great deal of clout in the trump administration. they have a lot of influence. they like to see themselves as the power brokers in the middle east. it's a small country but an important country and how this fits into the broader picture of the russia investigation is still unclear. that's why this meeting is insignificant. i ties elements together. there is still a good deal we don't know about the meeting. we do know they believed they thought they were having this meeting between erik prince a

we're told a very different story from erik prince.k down the issues that matter here. >> reporter: well, george nader, who is a businessman, now we have learned was in the seychelles and attended one of those meetings, he's now cooperating with bob mueller's investigation. what we understand, as part of mueller's investigation, he is determining whether or not this meeting was part of an effort to set up this back-channel discussion between the kremlin and washington when the trump administration came to power. when erik prince met with the intelligence committee last november, he denied this discussion and downplayed these meetings and did not mention at all that george nader apparently was part of these meetings. now, democrats in particular are raising new concerns over erik prince's testimony, saying that perhaps he was not truthful when he met with his committee last year. here's what adam schiff said moments ago. >> do you think erik prince lied to the committee about the seychelles meeting? >> i don't know if the public reports

what erik prince told lawmakers in november is again, he coincidently ran into people at this hotel. there as a private businessman, not as an emissary from the trump transition team and was discussing possible business deals with uae officials, and he's there, and they unexpectedly suggest he visit the hotel bar and meet the russian official who's very close to putin. he says he told officials he talked to the russian official for about 30 minutes or about the time it took him to drink a beer, nothing substantive in terms of the trump transition team at all. >> why would they want a secret back channel to the kremlin? >> well, this was, this is in the transition period. and this is during the time when the trump administration is believed to be wanting to talk to russian officials. we don't know what went on in this meeting specifically. we don't know if the whole issue of sanctions was discussed. now this was two weeks after the very controversial phone call between flynn, the national security adviser and kislyak. >> i want to push you a little bit. and i appreciate your careful,

right, erik schatzker. thank you for all of that wonderful contacts. we appreciate it.oldman is up one and a half percent, and of course the market of fire. goldman higher than the broader market. shery: it is time for the bloomberg business flash. dropbox has set a price range for its ipo. the filesharing company plans to sell 46 million shares for $22 billion. at the high end of that range, $100uld drop off at million. one of vmware's biggest investors wants to end talks with dell about a reverse merger. he argues that it would be a turbo deal for -- terrible deal for shareholders. he is trying to bring all of the pieces off his empire together under one publicly traded groups. that is your business flash update. right investors are cpiing their sights on data. joining us now with what to , someone who knows a little bit about debt options, matthew mcclellan. let's start with inflation. we have the cpi number tomorrow, which will be quite important given that we are not sure how to interpret average hourly earnings. to set as have started premium for inflation. having

after that meeting, erik prince reportedly approaches mbz and tells him he is authorized to act as asurrogate for trump. he asks mbz to set up a meeting for him with a surrogate for putin. according to the post, mbz agreed and proposed the say shell islands as the meeting place because of the privacy it would afford both sides. january 11th, mbz and george nader fly out to the sigh say shell islands and host a meeting between erik prince, a meeting between him and the head of a sanctioned russian sovereign wealth fund who is understood to be there as a representative of putin. that's the meeting where the special counsel's office obtained evidence it was designed to create that aforementioned secret back channel between the trump campaign and putin's office in russia. and you know, we still don't know who wrote the anonymous letter to the west in the mid-december 2016 tipping them off that the series of secret meetings and back channel communications was starting up. but we do now know that special counsel robert mueller has people who are cooperating witnesses who were in on a lot o

does that put erik prince in legal peril, barbara? >> yeah, i think it potentially does. you would want additional evidence so you don't just have two contradictory statements. if someone made a false statement before congress, that is absolutely a crime if it comes out that way. if this turns out not to have been a chance encounter but instead a scheduled meeting, that could put him in danger of prosecution. >> there's also, joyce, the fact we've now got a series of contacts and a series of lies about those contacts or deceptions about those contacts or alleged lies. during this transition period, you've got of course, the sort of original sin, michael flynn calls canner guy kislyak numerous times and tells investigators he didn't discuss sanctions. we know he did. jared kushner meeting with the head of a sanctioned bank and sergey kislyak who he smuggled in the trump tower leaving it off his form. erik prince going to the seychelles to meet someone for a meeting and not being forthcoming it appears about the meaning of that? it looks -- what do you make of that pattern?

and erik prince said no. that is suspicious.ou make of this case and who you thinking what mueller's up to and fishing way offshore to a meeting in the seychelles right before the inauguration? >> jeremy is right saying there's evidence here there's some sort of russian thing going on. it further illustrates the narrative rule number with trump is there's always a russian. this is another russian we haven't heard of before. it furthers the collusion conspiracy piece that one has been, that, mueller has been looking into. there's a separate piece of the story which is the uae and whether or not they might have influenced the election. it's a federal crime section 3121 says for a foreign national interfere with to give money to a u.s. campaign and there's angations in that "new york times" article that says that oh, the uae might have been doing that. that's something mueller will be looking at. it's important to read that story in light of what you just reported a few minutes ago "the new york times" story about michael schmidt a

a few months ago i asked erik prince about that meeting. >> i met him in a bar, chatted for 20 or 30inutes, and that was that. >> but why should you meet him? so you were in the seychelles. why should you meet that russian guy, what was the reason to meet him? >> the emirati guy said this would be an interesting guy for you to know. i had a beer with him. i don't know if he had a beer. he probably had vodka. >> in that meeting -- >> and after that i had no contact with him or any of his colleagues at all. >> he went on to tell me he had no idea that guy would have advertise ties to vladimir putin. but let's make something clear. all russian investors have ties to vladimir putin. jill abramson is a former executive editor at "the new york times" and back with me, hei heidi przybyla. how significant is this? >> it's significant that nader is a cooperating witness is important. it's another byzantine connection between donald trump, jared kushner, and an array of foreign wheelers and dealers who seem to combine business and politics. and that's what we have in this case. and it's curiou

you have erik prince who the emirates was thought was very close to the transition and that was what was going on at this meeting. >> i should note during that transition period, we've got flynn talking to kislyak lying about it to the fbi, jared kushner meeting with kislyak in secret in trump tower talks to him back channel. jared kushner meeting with the head of a sanctioned russian bank, a meeting in the seychelles between someone close to putin and someone representing the trump campaign. all of this is happening during that transition period that mueller has his eyes on. tre interesting in the arc of the story. mark ma sethi, thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> the news of a new mueller wit tied to foreign money comes on the heels of one of the most incredible pieces of reporting. jane maiers profiled christopher steele author of the famous dossier. joining me is jane maier. and jane, i was thinking about the piece which i've now read twice and you as i was processing the new news which is what steele did first was kind of see a bunch of dots and start to try to collect th

erik: what did you eat? a bit difficult to educate them. the soup used to have some butter.ok 24 hours to educate them and i want the tomato soup to be natural and to be without any animal stuff. it worked well. prince speaking to erik schatzker, fascinating insight into what was happening behind closed doors in saudi arabia. minister says the kingdom's planning and international bond sell in the coming weeks. saudi getting a lot of attention as the is it by the saudi arabian entourage to the u.s. continues. do we have a sense of what size the bond issuance is going to be? yousef: in 2017 we had five for $21.5 billion and it is expected to could see smaller issuances but more of them throughout 2018. they are trying to raise some $31 billion to bridge a budget deficit. struggling to grow and it shrank in 2017. let's hear from the finance minister as to when and where we could see the bond issuance. issuing every arm month. the debtt of market. we expected to be very soon. yousef: this would be the first bond issuance since the anticorruption crackdown so we see how an invest

the meeting that erik prince had was not in happenstance.bviously, at odds with what we heard and they testimony between the house intelligence agency. >> katie: he says "i never, ever have represented anyone from the trump transition, and the only reason i went was to see you." no one knew i was going. the initials for the united arab emirates, the crown prince. so my question is that the accusation here is that he was setting up a back channel between the russians and the trump transition team. it during the period of the transition, not that point, what in the incoming white house already have the authority to be setting up official channels, and not leaving to go through unofficial channels? it just seems like something that isn't really a controversy at all. >> sean: what i think is interesting, when the president trump won, no one expected him to win. so people were reaching out to me to figure out how to actually get into the white house and make connections because we don't know anybody from the campaign. number two, to have a back c

that's the area you want to follow-up with with erik prince? >> that's right.s new reporting, and there's not communication between the congressional investigations and bob mueller's investigation. but this new reporting and this new shadowy character, george nader, who apparently if reports are to be believed was at that meeting and there was some allegation that perhaps that meeting was designed in advance -- partly again, this is allegation -- to open a line of communications with the russians, that is a story, if it is true, i'm reading the same press reports that you are, if that is true, that is radically at odds with what mr. prince told the committee, and i don't feel badly saying that because that transcript has been made public and the public can look at what he said. he basically said, if i might summarize. i was wandering around the lobby of the hotel, went and grabbed a beer with the guy, we e talked a little bit and i moved on. so we would like to know if he was being honest with the committee and if not what that meeting, in fact, was all about.

i'm erik schatkzer .'s richest individuals and undoubtably saudi arabia's richest businessman. his investments span the globe. last november he became the most prominent figure detained in the so-called crackdown on saudi corruption. up at the now infamous ritz-carlton no keller 483 days -- ritz-carlton hotel for 83

erik prince. the former blackwater ceo -- he is also the brother of education secretary betsy devos. erik prince was in the seychelles two weeks before the inauguration. also there, a russian banker. prince has said their meeting was unplanned, a chance encounter in the seychelles while he was on a business trip. "met him down in the bar after dinner," prince said of his encounter with the russian banker. "we talked for 30 minutes over a beer, and that was it." and he says, the president-elect didn't know. >> was anyone on the trump team aware that you were at this meeting? >> no one was aware from the trump team that i was even there. >> reporter: but "the washington post" is reporting there is another version of the story. that there was someone else there who now says it was not by chance. and that it was specially set up to discuss relations between the u.s. and russia. that person is george nader, a lebanese american who says he helped set up the meeting. and who is now reportedly cooperating

erik prince says the meeting came about by chance. that's what he told house intel. it's also what he told stephen ruhle and ali velshi last year. listen. >> i was on a business meeting back in january. in the seychelles. i had gone to see guys from the middle east i had done business with before and they said there's a russian guy we are doing business with and you should meet him. so i met him in a bar, chatted for 20 or 30 minutes. and that was that. >> just happened to be in the seychelles. a remote island. >> that's where we all have our meetings. >> "the washington post" is reporting mueller has contradictory information from a cooperating witness, somebody involved in that negotiation who says, no, this was preplanned and it was to establish a back channel between erik prince, who was representing himself as a figure from the transition, and this russian businessman who had ties to vladimir putin. why would they need to establish a back channel? >> exactly. that's the big question here, and whether or not he lied because he's already been under oath. and these

erik: how difficult a situation is this for the fed chairman? mr. is a difficult balance between the legitimate desire to stimulate the economy and to get as much employment and growth as possible, and certainly to ensure that inflation gets back to 2% and maybe even the average inflation rate gets back to 2%. at the same time, i think you have to worry about the financial foundation for recovery if you are the fed chair. so i think there is a balance to be struck. erik: is he in a dammed if he does, dammed if he doesn't situation? mr. summers: i think that is probably portraying things more negatively than i would. but i certainly think it is a very difficult balancing act. and i think jay powell is a person with, now after six years at the fed, a lot of experience in these judgments, and he's a very, very experienced public servant and a real professional. matt: in the u.s., we just had the best consumer confidence reading i think in 17 years. a lot of people are putting that to the tax reform bill. do you think this congress and this administrati

the "post" goes on to note an associate of erik prince, lebanese businessman george nader, attended and helped organize the seychelles meeting. nader for himself has testified before a grand jury and is cooperating with the mueller investigation. that should be enough to talk about over these next few minutes. and first things first. let's begin with tonight's "new york times" piece and the coauthor, michael schmidt, who is with us by phone tonight. michael, it seems to me there are two competing concerns here in your story. trump's concerns over what was asked and what was said to the special counsel, and the concerns of those who are hearing trump is asking about what happened with the special counsel. >> there's a longstanding expectation and advice that folks who are in the center of an investigation should not speak, either with prosecutors or with witnesses, as it could create an appearance of trying to interfere with an investigation. and the president has disregarded this, disregarded it back in february 2017 when he spoke to jim comey about the flynn investigation, and now as t

i'm erik schatkzer. of the world's richest individuals and undoubtedly saudi arabia's best-known businessman. this kingdom holding is one of the largest companies listed on the exchange, and his investments span the globe. last november he became the most prominent figure detained in the so-called crackdown on saudi corruption. he was holed up at the now infamous ritz-carlton hotel for 83 days. sinc

erik prince denied on capitol hill recently. and they want to speak to him again.avid: a busy week. good to see you. the lawmaker wants to plug up the leaks from the russia probe once and for all joining us next. it's ok that everyone ignores me while i drive. it's fine. because i get a safe driving bonus check every six months i'm accident free. and i don't share it with mom! right, mom? righttt. safe driving bonus checks. only from allstate. switching to allstate is worth it. the morning walk until... it... wasn't. don't let type 2 diabetes get between you and your heart. even if you reach your a1c goal you are still at risk for heart attack or stroke. talk to your health care provider today about diabetic heart disease. and find out more at heartoftype2.com. your heart and type 2 diabetes. make the connection. >> this is our live shot from moon township, pennsylvania. this is where the president is speaking tonight. there's a special election going on there. it's a very tight race, goes three points either way, depending on the day or the poll you're looking at.

bloomberg's erik schatzker. us to talk more about this possible change at goldman sachs. howard: -- whether the wall street journal is correct and it happens at the end of the year, it is inevitable. he will not be ceo forever. julie: fair enough. it is interesting we are not seeing more of a reaction in the stock. it seems as though -- either it , as yous surprising say, or there is a high degree of confidence in management teams in place. probably all of the above. if there is not a lot of reaction in the stock, it means that goldman and its port have been successful in preparing investors dashboard have been successful in preparing investors for the change that lloyd would be leaving and that someone or more than one person would be filling his shoes. in my part schwartz, david solomon, it might be both of them, -- it might be harvey schwartz, david solomon, it might be both of them, or it could be an outsider. when an iconic ceo announces his the archer or it is otherwise announced, -- announces his departur

before i set off, erik gives me some last few tips. just pull it.ill stop in an emergency. he will stop. so this is my emergency brake? whoo—hoo! we are going! this is so spectacular. my first ever sleigh ride. let's go, son, let's go. it still may not be the fastest of rides but it seems to be the smoothest and most magical way to enjoy this landscape. 3.5 hours south—west of the big city is the vast expanse of desert called liwa. it is the uae's driest region. it is remote but beautiful. it is a world apart from the big city. at this annual sports festival, there are camel and horse races. but, basically, this is party time for petrol heads, attracting tens of thousands from all over the region. and, truth be told, it is very much a male domain. boy racers and supposedly respectable grown—ups bring their four—wheel drives and buggies for a romp on the dunes. and you do not get much bigger than tal moreeb. 300 metres high, at an incline of 50 degrees. it's crazy here! madness, anarchy almost. all of these boy racers and man racers. getting it out o