UPDATE: During his MSNBC interview with Chris Hayes, Sater admitted the Trump Organization pursued financing from a sanctioned Russian bank during the 2016 presidential campaign.
On Friday, Sater told MSNBC host Chris Hayes that a local developer in Russia worked on behalf of the Trump Organization to secure financing for a Trump Tower in Moscow from VTB Bank, Russia's second-largest bank and a US-sanctioned entity.
"I had a local developer there [in Russia], and I had the Trump Organization here [in the US], and I was in the middle," Sater said. "And the local developer there would have gotten financing from VTB and/or another Russian bank, but VTB at that point was the go-to bank for real-estate development."
VTB, a Russian state-owned bank, was initially added to the US's Specially Designated Nationals List (SDN) in July 2014, which froze its assets in the country and restricted US citizens and companies from doing business with VTB and its subsidiaries. The US later imposed additional sanctions on VTB in December 2015.
Sater and Trump's longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, were pushing for the deal with VTB in Moscow at the height of the presidential election, in late 2015 and early 2016.
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Sater first sent a non-binding letter of intent to Cohen outlining the terms of the "Trump World Tower Moscow" deal on October 13, 2015, The New York Times previously reported. Andrey Rozov, a Russian investor, had already signed it by the time Sater forwarded it to Cohen, and Trump signed the letter.
Weeks later, the two men exchanged a series of emails gearing up to celebrate the Trump Tower Moscow deal. In the emails, obtained by The Times, Sater bragged about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and told Cohen he would "get all of Putins team to buy in" on the deal.
"Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it," Sater wrote, according to The Times.
Sater added: "I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected."
Sater walked back his comments in an interview with BuzzFeed, telling the outlet he had exaggerated his relationship with Putin in order to secure the deal. On Friday, he told Hayes that his communications with Cohen were not meant to be "something surreptitious."
Russian-born businessman Felix Sater has confirmed a bombshell detail in the Russia investigation (Business Insider)
Felix Sater, a convicted criminal and former Trump business associate, interviewed with multiple news outlets Friday, explaining his connection to Donald Trump and his role in trying to get Trump Tower Moscow constructed.
In an interview with Good Morning America, Sater told George Stephanopoulos about his relationship with the president. He said it was disappointing to know Trump has said he wouldn't recognize Sater if he saw him given how well the two know each other. Sater said Trump asked him to look after Don Jr. and Ivanka during a 2006 trip to Moscow and arranged for a private tour of Putin's office in the Kremlin.
Sater said he was not involved in the Trump campaign but was trying to do a real estate deal when he communicated with Michael Cohen – someone he has known since they were teenagers – about pursuing Trump Tower Moscow.
He would not discuss whether or not he had interviewed with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team but said if anyone with the Trump campaign worked with Russia to interfere in the U.S. election, we should "send 'em to jail."
Sater also spoke with CNN's Chris Cuomo Friday morning. He explained he is speaking out because he wants to tell the story of his work with the U.S. intelligence community as a longtime asset. He shared he has testified before the House Intelligence Committee but, again, would not reveal whether he has met with the special counsel. In response, BuzzFeed News shared that it knew Sater spoke to Mueller in December.
Sater repeated his assertion that Trump personally asked him to look after his children in Moscow.
CNN:
"The President asked me to be in Russia at the same time as them to look after them," Sater said, adding that Trump had asked him directly.
The Trump Organization's general counsel has said previously Sater was not accompanying the Trump children in Moscow. And Trump himself has downplayed his connections to Sater.
"Felix Sater, boy, I have to even think about it," Trump said in a December 2015 Associated Press interview. "I'm not that familiar with him."
Sater said his emails to Cohen bragging about how he and his longtime friend could help get Trump elected with Putin's help were an innocent expression of excitement. He said he does not know Putin and never has met him but shared that he would have started working the phones as a real estate developer had the Trump Tower project moved forward.
Sater claimed he would not involve himself with a government actor from another country for anyone, but at the same time, he said would have turned over every rock to get Trump Tower Moscow developed.
Chris Hayes also interviewed Sater on MSNBC. Hayes dug further into the details of Sater's claims, notably pushing back on Sater's assertion that his correspondence with Cohen about getting Trump elected with Putin's help was nothing more than two old friends being excited about someone they know possibly being elected president.
Businessman says Trump sent him to Russia to 'look after' his kids (CNN)