• Trump-linked businessman testified in Mueller probe
• Search of 3 iPhones seized from George Nader in 2018 via search warrant turned up child pornography, say feds
"Jailed Mueller witness George Nader showed up briefly in court this AM to hear he faces an indictment on child-porn and related charges," writes Politico's excellent courts and law reporter Josh Gerstein, whom you should follow.
"Defense suggests feds have never filed charges in a case like his."
One of Nader's defense lawyers was trying to convince the judge to reconsider earlier orders to detain Nader pending trial (just like Jeffrey Epstein!).
"This is not a typical child pornography case," the attorney said to the judge.
A quote for the ages.
Nader is a wealthy Lebanese-American businessman and Middle East expert was a witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia investigation, and has been indicted on charges of importing child pornography and traveling with a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.
George Nader, 60, made a brief appearance Friday morning in federal court in Alexandria, Va., to be arraigned on the new indictment, which was returned July 3 and unsealed Friday.
Nader was involved in various meetings and discussions related to the Trump presidential transition that drew the attention of Mueller investigators, including a meeting that Erik Prince, the founder of private military contractor Blackwater, held with a Russian ally of President Vladimir Putin in the Seychelles in January 2017.
When Nader flew into Dulles Airport outside Washington in January 2018, he was questioned by agents working for Mueller. A search of three iPhones seized from him that day via a search warrant allegedly turned up child pornography.
Prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Nader over the images in April 2018 but kept the charges under seal and never told his attorneys about them even as he continued to cooperate with Mueller's probe, lawyers said.
District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema set a trial date of September 30.
George Nader has quite a record with this sort of behavior, and was indicted as far back as 1985 on obscenity charges involving child pornography.
Read Josh Gerstein's full story here:
Businessman who testified in Mueller probe indicted on child pornography charges
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* Former Trump advisor George Nader ordered jailed until his child porn trial
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