i asked him for information about vekselberg and specifically why vekselberg was on the treasury secretary'sns list, which he has. here's how he responded. >> we were very careful. we took our time. used both classified information and open source information. i can't go through the specifics of this. but we were very careful. >> so congresswoman, you heard him. he said they used classified information and open source. do you think the administration share more details about evangelic vekselberg and other sanctions? >> without question. and i think we also need to know why his cousin out of the blue contributed heavily to the inauguration of president trump when he has not been giving contributions to anyone else previously. there is something afoot here that really zverevs our attention. i believe that nunes and the majority of the house sbel community should reopen this investigation because right now, it is perfectly obvious to me they were doing the bidding of the president and that alone and not the american people's work. >> thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> and next, breaking

russian oligarch viktor vekselberg.s $15 billion fortune currently puts him at number 75 on the world's richest list. as such he is closely connected to russian president vladimir putin. unlike other oligarchs vekselberg is not believed to have ties to russian organized crime. and though there is disagreement over whether he's a member of putin's inner circle, he certainly interacts with the russian president on a regular basis. he sat at the table next to putin at the infamous rt dinner in 2015, the same one attended by trump's former national security adviser michael flynn, and green party candidate jill stein. that fbi warning about vekselberg's foundation four years vekselberg has been in the news a lot lately. most recently his name appeared in documents released by michael avenatti alleges the u.s. affiliate of vekselberg's company columbus nova paid $500,000 into a shell company controlled by michael cohen. columbus nova has denied that those payments to cohen had anything to do with vekselberg. although, the com

so vekselberg may have gotten something in return. all of a sudden his company that he owned 26.2% of, the other big portion was owned by dara pass caw who was paul manafort's pay master and those sanctions have been delayed until october. allowing them to get the money >> as a final point on the consulting, there was i want no know about essential consulting. it is this business that pays off the woman accusing the president of having extramarital affair, the hush money and the business that novartis writes checks to and $200,000 from the at&t and the korean industry and the question i would like to know is, does any money flow from essential consulting back to the president of the united states because we know money goes into the other direction, thanks to rudy giuliani and the president reimbursd michael cohen and does any money go back to the president. that is an interesting questioning among many others i would like to see. thank you all. >> thank you. >>> for more on what this story means for michael cohen and the russia invest

the payment went from vekselberg, a firm linked to vekselberg called columbus nova, a financial company out of new york. it's run by vekselberg american andrew trader. michael avenatti posted documents where he alleged that a half million dollars was paid to cohen beginning in january of 2011. last month, back to where viktor vekselberg gets into this, trump administration placed him on sanctions for the russian internal revenue service. now as to what the payments were that related to cohen and the company is unknown. we've reached out to cohen and vekselberg and both have not responded to our questions. what's significant here as you pointed out is you have money coming from a u.s. company that is linked to this russian man who has been sanctioned who the u.s. government says interfered in our election that was going to michael cohen, certainly lead to all potential questions that now we know the fbi and u.s. investigator are asking. >> and he's being interviewed by the special counsel right? >> as far as we know he's being interviewed by the fbi investigations associated with the spe

now the payments went from vekselberg's firm that is linked to vekselberg.t's called columbus nova. it's a financial company out of new york. and it's run by vekselberg's american cousin andrew intraitor. as we've been reporting all night, stormy daniels' attorney, michael avenatti has posted documents where he alleges that a half million was paid to cohen beginning in january of 2017. and then last month, back to where are viktor vekselberg gets into all of this, the trump administration placed them on a list of sanctioned russians for election interference. now as to what the purpose of these payments were that were made to cohen or the nature of the business relationship between cohen and the company is unknown. we've reached out to cohen and vekselberg, and both have not responded to our questions. and really, don, in the end, what's really significant here, as you pointed out at the top of the show is that you have money coming from a u.s. company that is linked to this russian man who has been sanctioned who the u.s. government interfered in our electi

vekselberg quick question from cnn. >> thank you. not now. >> why did your company pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to president trump's lawyer. >> not now. >> really appreciate -- okay. really appreciate -- i understand. you're so aggressive. >> no, i'm not. >> please -- >> was it to buy access to the president? >> please -- [ inaudible ]. >>what did you get for the money? >> please leave. >> questions, sir. >> you have to understand -- [ inaudible ]. >> what did the fbi question you about? >> thank you very much. >> so why is robert mueller and his team so interested in vekselberg? >> well, i think it is a question of follow the money. so viktor vekselberg was questioned when he arrived in the u.s. on his private plane earl -- early this year and was asked about political donations to the rnc and the trump victory fund and also asked about the payment to michael cohen. now the reason why they're asking for viktor vekselberg is because his company is a big russian kong glomer at, largest investor with the company that his cousin

they have nothing to do with vekselberg. well, as it turns out, a year ago we at mother jones wrote about vekselberg in this company. at that time on their website they were listed as a subsidiary of renova, which is viktor vekselberg's company. so if you go back in the way back machine, you can find not too far back, not too way back that they were listed as a subsidiary. and to me the interesting thing is we wrote about vekselberg at the time because the president of the american subsidiary, who is an american citizen, happens

cnn's matthew chance caught up with viktor vekselberg in russia recently. here is what he had to say or not say. >> reporter: quick question from cnn. >> thank you, not now. >> reporter: why did your company pay hundreds of thousands of dollars -- >> i said not now. >> reporter: -- to president trump's lawyer? he is yet another media-shy russian billionaire linked with the kremlin and mired in allegations of collusion with the trump team. the fbi questioned viktor vekselberg about payments to trump attorney michael cohen by his company's u.s. affiliate. they say it was for consulting work. we asked about the payments too.

vekselberg is his biggest client and his cousin. but the company says vekselberg was not involved in the decision to pay cohen. the claim viktor was involved or provide any funding for columbus nova's engagement of michael cohen is patently untrue. in other words, how dare you? columbus nova just wanted to pay michael cohen $1 million for a totally unknown reason which had nothing to do with their biggest client, a russian oligarch. guess what? it turns out thought michael cohen and none other than viktor vekselberg haven't exactly strangers. "the new york times" reporting shortly before trump's inauguration, vekselberg and cohen met at trump tower where they discussed a mutual desire to strengthen russia's relations with the united states under president trump and arranged to see each other during the inauguration festivities. it was shortly after that that columbus nova decided to pay $1 million into the michael cohen trump mistress slush fund. joining me now, emily jane fox. senior reporter at "vanity fair" and someone who is fre

he never seemed to mention novartis, at&t, vekselberg.his thing feels a little nasty. >> perhaps he was preferring to legal clients to give them the benefit of the doubt. something that i found so interesting about these transactions were the payment schedules and deliberately keeping the sums under $10,000. trying to avoid federal scrutiny. the effort, though, seemed pretty sloppy. one llc registered in delaware for a lot of activity that they seemed to be hiding. when wouldn't you want to the separate out stormy daniels, taking money from the russians at a time when you're the president, who you're the personal lawyer for, is under investigation for ties to russia. it seems a little sloppy even if there isn't anything. >> i agree. and michael cohen just said that the documents are fake. and we don't know where michael avenatti got these. we don't know if they're complete. there are a lot of unanswered questions. i guarantee you the prosecutors do know that. they have these doubts so that is not an unanswered question for them, as it is

why was this guy, viktor vekselberg, sending all that money?to me, david, and i assume to you as well, that robert mueller and his team, they have so much more knowledge, so much more information than any of us have. they have a ton of information, probably, about every little penny that anybody got involved with in this investigation. >> right. what seems clear from the outside looking in is that they are putting together a big puzzle and they've got a lot of pieces and they're slowly falling into place. michael and i have talked about this many times over the course of the last month. that a good prosecutor, correct me if i'm wrong, will sort of know in vaadvance where they're going before they start questioning people, before they start revealing information in indictment documents or in court charging documents about what questions they want to ask or what pleadings they're going to file with the court. they've got more information than the subjects of the investigation. >> that's right. and it will be interesting, wolf, to see whether or n

why did this vekselberg linked company, vekselberg entity is the largest client of this american companytial transition agree to a million dollar contract with michael cohen? was his expertise suddenly more valuable because of as they say investment advice? i don't think so. so it is fair to ask these hard questions. >> ambassador eisen, jen rogers, thanks for taking the time with us. it's absolute confidence in 30,000 precision parts. or it isn't. it's inspected by mercedes-benz factory-trained technicians. or it isn't. it's backed by an unlimited mileage warranty, or it isn't. for those who never settle, it's either mercedes-benz certified pre-owned, or it isn't. the mercedes-benz certified pre-owned sales event. now through may 31st. only at your authorized mercedes-benz dealer. it's dead again. i need a new phone. and you deserve that new phone on the best network. verizon. oh, we're going? sure-- ehh, not my thing. (vo) now get up to 50% off our best phones. like the samsung galaxy s9 and google pixel 2. only on verizon. come hok., babe. nasty nighttime heartburn? try new alka-seltz

vekselberg, searched his electronic devices ap questioned him. they confront him after he stepped off a private plane about two months ago. the russian billionaire has not been identified as a suspect in the investigation. but the "new york times" report thad vekselberg was present for the president trump inauguration and that 2017 dinner where michael flynn was amongst the guests of honor. nbc could not reach connor comment tonight. we have joined my julia ainsley, justice reporter for abc news, barbara mcquaid former u.s. attorney for the eastern of michigan and a staff writer and msnbc contributor. it's from avenotti, but it's a bombshell. because it connects a russian oligarch paying $500,000 into a bank account, basically, which michael cohen was using to pay off hush money to stormy daniels. this the an amazing connection. your thoughts. >> it's an amazing revelation. chris. when we first started poking around on this i can remember a year or more than a year ago, asking people in counterintelligence, what should we be looking for? they sai

his name is viktor vekselberg. they questioned him about hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments that were made to president trump's personal attorney michael cohen in 2017. but there were also questions about other money that perhaps went into people affiliated with the trump campaign and the ininauguration ration. those questions were also asked of viktor vekselberg when he was stopped by fbi agents. we're told, anderson, that vekselberg has not been coopera cooperate tif wi coopera cooperateive with authorities. all of these questions you're discussing with michael avenatti have come up as concerns with investigators. >> let's talk about vekselberg, what the fbi wanted to know from him. >> he's one of the most prominent businessmen in russia. he spent $100 million to buy fabregas eggs to bring them home. he was stopped when his private plane landed in the u.s. at that time, he was asked in addition to the questions that shimone just asked, he was also asked about payments from his cousin, andrew intrater, h

they have nothing to do with vekselberg. well, as it turns out, a year ago we at mother jones wrote about vekselberg in this company. at that time on their website they were listed as a subsidiary of renova, which is viktor vekselberg's company. so if you go back in the way back machine, you can find not too far back, not too way back that they were listed as a subsidiary. and to me the interesting thing is we wrote about vekselberg at the time because the president of the american subsidiary, who is an american citizen, happens to be the cousin of viktor vekselberg, had given a quarter million to the trump inauguration campaign and $35,000 to the trump campaign and the rnc. now, we looked at this guy. he had never given more than a couple hundred dollars, a couple thousand dollars in very mundane political contributions, never a lot. now all of the sudden with trump in the office, he is giving a quarter million. and to me it's interesting because in michael's report, he notes that the money came to michael cohen through thi

let's talk about this firm tied to vekselberg that paid cohen $580 million originally and said that vekselbergd nothing to do with that payment -- >> $580,000. >> $580,000. i'm sorry. is that still plausible considering this meeting? >> yes, if you compare it to what cohen did with at&t and novartis and so forth. this looks like one more opportunity that he thought he was creating for himself, and i think the most important thing to remember out of all this is that, while michael cohen was selling, selling, selling michael cohen, he didn't get anything in terms of access for his clients, which undoubtedly is what he was saying he could get and implying that his proximity to trump would get him that, but he didn't get that for teeth tee at&t or any of his clients, even though they were paying him $300,000 to $600,000. this guy is russian, obviously that's different than at&t, but none of michael cohen's consulting clients got anything out of the trump administration. >> is that enough legally, though? isn't it just the attempt to get something that could be evidence of quid pro quo or do you ha

that is an issue and questions that authorities have asked vekselberg.s nova have given us a statement. we reached out to them and they have given us a statement in which i will read part of it to you. after the inauguration the firm hired michael cohen as a business consultant regarding potential sources. reports that viktor vekselberg used columbus nova as a continue wi for payments to michael cohen are false. neither viktor vekselberg nor anyone else other than doll lum bus nova's owners were involved in the decision to hire company hen or provided funding for his engagem. we know mueller's investigators did question vekselberg about this. >> it is hard to believe that they just happened to pick, just the point that mr. avenatti made earlier, that they happened to pick michael cohen for real estate advice and nothing to do with his relationship with the president of the united states. to our knowledge, it is not known that there is anything illegal about these payments. >> there isn't. and nothing from at least what we have been told by our sources sp

vict viktor vekselberg. >> it's vekselberg who has a daughter here in new york. >> he does. and he has business interests here. he has business interests in the country, many places. >> because it was surprising to read this portion from your book, you're a guy who doesn't scare easily. this will inform our viewers as to the presence that putin is personally. i read from your book. in may 2012, i accompanied my former boss at the white house, national security adviser tom donilon, to his meeting with president-elect putin. putin listened politely to tom's arguments for continued cooperation. at some point in their dialogue, he turned away from tom to stare intensely at me with his steely blue eyes and stern scowl to accuse me of purposely seeking to ruin u.s.-russia relations. putin seemed genuinely angry with me. i was genuinely alarmed. the hair on the back of my neck stood on end and sweat covered my brow as i endured this tongue-lashing from one of the most powerful people in the world. he is not an amateur. he is a trained professional. if he had the capacity to do that

tell me a little bit more about vekselberg.olumbus nova is issuing a statement saying the company is american-roled. they denied vekselberg had ever owned it or used it for payments. does the evidence support that claim? >> katy, not surprisingly, it's more nuanced than that. our understanding of it based upon looking at corporate records, website records, and also the states from the people involved with the companies themselves, columbus nova is part of the renova group, which is victor vekselberg's company. it is a big company. they have investments in various industries. they are in the minerals industry, the oil industry, telecommunications industries in other investments that he has. this is kind the american investing arm of victor vekselberg. in addition to that, if ceo of columbus nova is andrew intrader, and he's a relative of vex vek. while there is a clear situation between the two companies to some degree to say they are entirely separate entities, say ge and at&t, yeah, it's not quite that way. >> he has what is b

vekselberg is a close ally of putin.ording to "the new york times," both cousins and trotter and vekselberg have been questioned by special counsel robert mueller impa. michael cohen's lawyer wrote, this document is concerning for a number of reasons, including the number of blatantly incorrect statement its contains. nbc news has reviewed financial documents that appear to support avenatti's claims. yesterday in a statement the company denied that vekselberg was involved with the payment and said the firm was wholly owned and controlled by u.s. citizens. they added after the inauguration, the firm hired michael cohen as a business consultant regarding potential real estate issues and other ventures. mother jones cite s.e.c. filings, reporting that columbus nova had close association with vekselberg's russian company called the renova group. you can see that vekselberg's cousin in trotter described it as his affiliate. they were sanctioned but have not been accused of wrongdoing with the investigation into cohen. it's un

vekselberg was just sanctioned by the u.s.easury department for alleged meddling and other hostile acts. a web page that described columbus ceo of the executive board of the renova group has now been changed removing all references to the russian firm. a page on the website once listed columbus nova as part of its group structure as recently as november of last year, that too is gone. now cnn has found three website domain names using renova and still active today. >> the fact this american company is indeed connected to a russian company owned by a significant oligarch, vekselberg in this particular case is really an important thing and i think probably why mueller's team was interested in mr. vekselberg. >> reporter: columbus nova released a statement saying it has been and continues to be 100% owned by americans, and has never been owned by viktor vekselberg or the renova group, but it is hard to erase family ties. columbus nova's ceo is vekselberg's cousin andrew introtter. vekselberg's other cousin also works at columbus

viktor vekselberg he's close to vladimir putin and one of several glarkz sanctioned by the u.s. government next month. the company was also hit with penalties in retaliation for russia's interference in the election. >> i can't make any comments as it relates to our sanctions or any specifics. >> reporter: "the new york times" confirming details initially made public by stormy daniels's lawyer, michael avenatti, that these payments amounted to nearly half a million dollars and were paid by columbus nova to cohen's shell company, essential consulting between january and august of 2017. columbus nova is run by viktor vekselberg's cousin who sources say has also been questioned by mueller's team. in a statement, columbus nova's general counsel stating, i can confirm that the company is 100% owned and controlled by americans. any suggestion that at any point in time viktor vekselberg or any of his companies owned or exercised any control over columbus nova is untrue. michael avenatti telling cnn that he has evidence that viktor vekselberg was involved before making this unsubstantia

what evidence do you have that vekselberg ordered instructed or urged nova to make any payment? >> first of all, his cousin was the ceo of the entity at all relevant times. that's a. b, "mother jones" i think did extensive reporting about a year or two ago relating to the connection between the u.s. subsidiary and the russian entity. so that's b. c, what's interesting about the statement that's have been made, don, is they still haven't told anyone truly what the arrangement was with michael cohen, what it was for, why did they hire michael cohen to undertake this effort and what they haven't said is that there was absolutely no contacts whatsoever or connection between their entity and this oligarch or russia. >> how do we know that this came from russia or vekselberg or that -- was it just nova acting on their own? >> what do you mean how do we know that? >> how do you know that? >> i won't disclose every aspect of what we know. here's what i will tell you. as i sit here right now, "the new york times" has confirmed the accuracy of our executive summary. nbc news has confirmed

vekselberg, quick question from cnn -- >> no, thank you. not now. >> mr. why did your company pay hundreds of thousands of $ -- >> not now. >> reporter: he is another media-shy russian billionaire linked with the kremlin and mired in allegations of collusion with the trump team. the fbi questioned victor vekselberg about payments to trump attorney michael cohen by his company's u.s. affiliate. they say it was for consulting work. we asked about the payments, too. >> appreciate it -- just later, okay? yeah. really appreciate -- >> the access -- >> i understand. you are so aggressive. >> no, i'm not at all. >> no, no, no. please. >> reporter: access to the president -- >> please, later. >> reporter: we now know that vekselberg met cohen even before president trump was inaugurated. these recently unearthed january, 2017, images from the lobby of trump tower in new york show the russian billionaire wearing a hat and coat, checking in at the security desk, lingering for several minutes and entering an elevator with his business partner. cohen hasn't responded f

, or indirectly from vekselberg.o that's item one on this agenda. i think maybe cohen was just freelancing, you know. if we established that trump had actually told these various contributors that cohen was the guy to see, then that would be a different thing. but it's quite possible that they on their own motion figured out that he was the pay to play guy and contacted him. and now they have buyers' regret. so that's my first reaction. the second reaction is that this is an incredibly interesting network of russian contacts that have, again, come into play here. vekselberg and deripaska and the guy named vadnik, partners in a major aluminum company, they had a lot to fear from the sanctions program. so that was maybe a motivation for this. they were also partners in a big oil deal in 2013 where they all got $7 billion each from rosneft, the state-owned russian oil company. so they're close to putin. they throw their weight around. lavatnik made $6.35 million of campaign contributions, including $2 million to mitch m

vekselberg has not been accused of wrongdoing in the mueller investigation either. columbus nova told nbc after the inauguration the nymfirm hired michael cohen has a business consultant regarding certain sources of capital and potential investments in real estate and other ventures. reports today viktor vekselberg used columbus nova as a conduit for payments to michael cohen are false. the claim that viktor vekselberg was involved or provided any funding for columbus nova's engagement of michael cohen is patently untrue. neither viktor vekselberg nor anyone else in columbus nova's owners were involved in the decision to hire cohen or provide funding for his engagement. according to a seven-page financial document released by avenat avenatti, essential consultants took in more than $4 million from a variety of sources, including korea aerospace industries, at&t and pharma gunt kn giant knnovartis. at&t paid essential consultants $200,000 in four separate payments in late 2017 and early 2018. at&t's response -- essential consulting was one of several firms we engaged

they refer to it as the vekselberg family office. that's a term to refer to a private hedge fund that's primary or sole job is to invest the money of one person in their family. that's what columbus nova is. he technically maybe possibly wasn't an owner on the registration but the only assets they used, it is his piggy bank. >> what's your reaction to the story. >> i got a no comment from michael cohen when i went to him asking what the details of the meeting were about. i talked to someone who is a long time friend. he made the point that was interesting that the biggest mistake that michael cohen has made and i don't know that this is the biggest mistake but according to this person, the biggest mistake that he made he used the title personal attorney to president trump. if had just registered as a foreign agent, registered as a lobbyist, as a foreign agent, maybe joined the law firm officially that he worked out of, these meetings would perhaps be optically bad and not a great look for cohen and president trump, but now it's not j

reports say viktor vekselberg used columbus nova has a conduit for payments. neither vekselberg nor anyone else other than the columbus nova's owners were involved in the decision to hire cohen or provided funding for his engagement. what do you think of that? >> it will be up to investigators to find the truth behind it. the only difference i think i have with michael, and i respect his opinion quite a bit, is just that i think that, you know, this was the llc that was set up to pay daniels and potentially other women. i think those payments and how -- where that money comes from will be of interest. it becomes a foreign source, that's a problem. and also as stormy daniels's lawyer talked about yesterday, there were -- he alleges there were false statements made by the bank in connection with opening the account. that potentially is of interest. there needs to be more attention to know if there is anything potentially there. >> thank you both very much. chris? >> the president's nominee for cia director will face tough questions at her confirmation hearing to

what's not entirely clear is why viktor vekselberg was present. know that vekselberg was questioned by the special counsel, by fbi agents who stopped him when he arrived to a new york area airport. fbi agents met him and questioned him. they've also been looking at whether russian money was used through straw donors to donate to the inauguration and to the trump campaign. now, michael cohen wound up getting a contract with viktor vekselberg's cousin, who wound up paying him $580,000 for this contract. that also is something that has been reported on. we have extensively reported on. because of viktor vekselberg's ties to the investment firm that the cousin runs in new york, certainly, wolf, all of this has been something that the special counsel and the fbi has been investigating. >> thanks very much. with the latest on that front. our panel is back. and david, this michael cohen mess seems to be mushrooming with new details emerging. what's your reaction when you just heard his report? >> these kinds of details raise questions about what the spec

vekselberg has already been on special counsel robert mueller's radar. the "times" has reported he was stopped and questioned at a new york area airport earlier this year. let's bring in our leadoff panel for this friday night. susan glasser, staff writer at the new yorker. paul butler, a former federal prosecutor and georgetown law school professor. and ken dilanian, nbc news intelligence and national security reporter. thank you all for being with us. ken, let me start with you. with this news, rudy giuliani, what he is telling the a.p. about, he says, potentially going to the justice department to have this investigation declared illegitimate. what do you make of his comments tonight? >> it's a very significant and potentially disturbing development, steve, because, look, under normal circumstances, the subject or target of a grand jury investigation has no right to learn secret information about that investigation. now, absolutely, once you're charged with a crime as a defendant, you have a right to get discovery and to learn how the government inves

statement, a lawyer for columbus nova described the money as a "consulting fee," and said that vekselberg was "not involved in the decision to hire hihen." >> i think that receiving the payments, by the personal attorney to the president, michael cohen, it's highly suspicious. it may, in fact, show criminal honduct. >> reporter: avenatti says those crimes could include bank and wire fraud, or money laundering. cohen is under federal anvestigation, and last month, f.b.i. agents raided his home and offices in new york. at&t, novartis, and korea aerospace have all confirmed they too paid cohen for consulting services.

vekselberg.in a statement to cnn, the general counsel of columbus nova insist the russian oligarch has no control over the company. 100% owned by americans. any suggestion that viktor vekselberg or any of his companies owned columbus nova is absolutely wrong. for what they call legal advice on the cost accounting standard regulation. but remains unclear what that means. at&t which is trying to buy cnn apparent company time warner paid cohen at least $200,000 and said he was hired to provide insight into understanding the new administration. and novartis said they realized cohen could not provide them. the company still paid company hen $1 million over the course of the year. and provided all information requested. >> this guy is a lawyer, a real estate agent, an accountant, a doctor. this guy is a multitalented guy. he is the leonardo da vinchi of our time. who knew. >> one company that paid company hen was at&t. confirmed they made him for insights into understanding the new administration. insi

vekselberg, to put the cherry on top of the sundae here, he was sanctioned by the u.s. treasury department. this is not a russian oligarch you can be proud of. >> i believe torshin is also under sanctions. >> he is. >> we have more trouble for donald trump jr. because we have the potential involvement where the fbi obtained wiretaps on him, we have that reporting from michael isikoff and now on top of that, senator chris coop center a letter to senator chuck grassley saying he's deeply concerned that based on new information we learned this week, donald trump jr. provided false testimony to the senate judiciary committee saying he would renew his request to return. what he's talking about is testimony in which donald trump jr. was asked the following question in front of congress. did other foreign governments offer to provide assistance to the trump campaign? none that i know of. did other foreign nationals offer to provide asince answer the to the trump campaign? no. did you directly or indirectly seek foreign government or foreign nationals assistance for the trump c

and that oligarch is named viktor vekselberg.s a close ally of vladimir putin, he was placed last month on a sanctions list by the treasury department. cnn reported yesterday that investigators working with robert mueller stopped and questioned vekselberg at a new york area airport this year about payments that columbus nova made to the president's lawyer. now, vekselberg and columbus nova founder andrew enslider are cousins, and sources tell us that entrader was also questioned by investigators. now, some of the attention on columbus nova is coming because michael avenatti, the lawyer for adult film star stormy daniels, made allegations that say mr. vekselberg and his cousin, quote, routed eight payments to mr. cohen through columbus know vachlt now, columbus nova says vekselberg's russian company is its biggest client, but the company is owned and operated by u.s. citizens and it's never had any foreign ownership. it also says that the oligarch had no role in the american company's decision to hire michael cohen. >> this compan

vekselberg and his cousin routed eight payments to mr. cohen through nova. the company itself is fully owned and airported by u.s. citizens and never had citizenship and the ol good morning -- oligarch had no involvement in hiring cohen. >> they have a closer relationship. what do you know about that? >> the company until recently included its ties to nova on its website. >> that information has since been remochltd an archived copy describes it as a partner of columbus nova and describes the american company this way as the u.s. investment vehicle which is a multinational zurich based holding company. it describes a current member of the executive board of renova group. it's the same description columbus nova used for years on the website. a filing in 2007, columbus nova said it was the u.s.-based facility group of companies, one of the largest russian strategic investors. when it was found, it was renova u.s. manage l and since changed its name. as recently as april listed it as one of the companies out of two dozen that include under its group structure.

now, also keep in mind, kate, viktor vekselberg was at trump's inauguration. there is some history with him and vladimir putin. he was at an rt dinner that michael flynn was at. all of this, obviously, created some suspicion and some concern for the fbi and the special counsel team that has been looking at russia collusion and that's why they wanted to talk to him and this raises questions about what was viktor vekselberg doing there, who thought this was a good idea for this man who is a very well known russian oligarch, who has connections to vladimir putin, you know, who would think this would be a good idea for this man to appear to show up at trump tower during the transition? >> and also how that is, if that is connected to that huge dollar amount that the private equity firm paid then to michael cohen for consulting services. how that all fits together, that's what they're looking at. great to see you. thank you so much. >>> coming up for us, the backlash over the briefings, lawmakers ripping the trump administration for involving a white house attorney

cnn's matthew chance caught up with viktor vekselberg in russia recently.ere is what he had to say or not say. >> reporter: quick question from cnn. >> thank you, not now. >> reporter: why did your company pay hundreds of thousands of dollars -- >> i said not now. >> reporter: -- to president trump's lawyer? he is yet another media-shy russian billionaire linked with the kremlin and mired in allegations of collusion with the trump team. the fbi questioned viktor vekselberg about payments to trump attorney michael cohen by his company's u.s. affiliate. they say it was for consulting work. we asked about the payments too. >> i really appreciate it, just later, okay? >> reporter: did you have access to the president? >> i understand. you're so aggressive. >> reporter: did you have access to the president? >> please, later. remembe >> reporter: we now know that viktor vekselberg met michael cohen before president trump was inaugurated. these images from the lobby of trump tower in new york show the russian billionaire, wearing a hat and coat, checking in at the

viktor vekselberg is one of the richest men in russia. he is considered to be close to vladimir putin. he was sanctioned last month by the u.s. government because of his linked to putin. as was his company, renova. now, the firm that apparently paid michael cohen $500,000 and landed itself on the front page of "the new york times" right now, it's a private equity firm that used to call itself on its website, the u.s. investment vehicle for the renova group. they have since dropped that description on their website, now that renova group and its founder have been sanctioned by the u.s. government. it's now illegal for anybody in the u.s. to do business with viktor vekselberg or the renova group, so, nobody would want to advertise themselves as the u.s. investment vehicle for that group. right? we learned last week that vekselberg was stopped by agents working for robert mueller as he landed in a private plane at a new york area airport some time in the past couple of months. mueller's team questioned mr. vekselberg, including, it's being r

his name victor vekselberg. mueller asked him about a meeting at trump tower.deo, you can see vekselberg wearing the hat waiting to go up to cohen's trump tower office. the source says the aim of the meeting was to improve u.s./russia relations. a firm connected to vekselberg paid cohen more than $500,000 for consulting work. last month, the u.s. imposed sanctions on the oligarch for election interference. in this exclusive report, cnn's matthew chance tried to ask victor vekselberg about his connection to michael cohen, but, as you'll see, vekselberg wasn't exactly forthcoming about it. >> mr. vekselberg, quick question from cnn. >> thank you, not now. >> why did your company pay hundreds of thousands of dollars -- >> i said not now. >> -- to president trump's lawyer? >> i really appreciate -- just later, okay? really appreciate -- i understand. you are so aggressive. no, no, no, please. >> did you want to buy access to the president? do you know -- what did you get for the money? >> please, later. >> these are questions, sir. please answer them. >> we'll tell

so the fact that vekselberg or people connected to vekselberg were his clients suggests to me that these were relationships again that go back a long way. >> go ahead. >> i wanted to break in and, also remind people that intrader and blavotnik -- they are two of three donors that important. simon kukis is forgotten here. he was born in russia. came to america in the 1970s. he gave gave a reason to tricks. he has been a u.s. citizen for decades. never gave a contribution to any delegation or party or anything. then in 2016, after the trump tower meeting he gives $283,000 to the republican party and to trump's campaign. he had given $2700 to trump in the primaries. but all of that came late in the cycle. this is a person who was hand picked by putin in 2003 to run a state-owned russian oil company. and you know, he is an american citizen. so it's not illegal. >> i want to be clear. we just put up simon kukes. he is accused of no wrongdoing. he is an american citizen. it's entirely legal that he did what he did. i don't want to tar by association because you happen to have been born in russ

vekselberg, quick question from cnn. why did you your company pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to president trump's lawyer? >> not now! >> appreciate it. just later, okay? i understand. i understand. you're so aggressive. >> reporter: no, no. >> please. please later. >> sources say the fbi questioned vekselberg about his contacts and he was also sanctioned for the u.s. for election interference. meanwhile, roger stone also facing tough questions. "the wall street journal" is reporting that he tried to gather dirt from julian assange using a new york acquaintance. he repeatedly e-mail a radio personality in 2016 looking for documents about clinton's time when she served as secretary of state. the new report also calls into question stone's testimony to the house intelligence committee last year. it comes as cnn has learned that special counsel robert mueller is looking into stone's finances. he recently subpoenaed two of stone's former associates, which may explain that he said this this week. >> i can guarantee you t

affiliate of vekselberg's company.hese payments allegedly occurred in the first half of 2017 and the company that distributed these payments is columbus nova. so hundreds of thousands of dollars went right to michael cohen. columbus nova is actually run by vooug's american cousin andrew intrader. columbus nova is distancing itself from vekselberg. he said, as the general counsel of columbus nova, i can confirm that the company is 100% owned and controlled by americans. any suggestion that at any point in time viktor vekselberg or any of his companies owned or exercised any control over columbus nova is patently untrue. it is important to note that so far prosecutors have not accused michael cohen of any wrongdoing in regard to these payments or any other business dealings but his finances have come under increasing scrutiny. all is part of the investigation that's now being handled out of new york. at the same time as we're learning about these payments, hundreds of thousand dollars, it turns out stormy daniels's lawye