Senate investigators want to question Russia-based businessman tied to Trump: report

Senate investigators reportedly want to question an American businessman based in Moscow who has ties to President Trump.

CNN reported Thursday that the Senate Intelligence Committee is interested in interviewing David Geovanis, whose ties to Trump reportedly date back to the 1990s, in its probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. 

Geovanis is said to have helped Trump make a trip in 1996 to Moscow, where he was looking to build a Trump Tower.

{mosads}He also reportedly worked for the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a billionaire aluminum magnate with ties to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. 

Two witnesses who have been interviewed by the Senate Intelligence Committee told CNN that they were asked during interviews last year about the relationship between Trump and Geovanis.

The network reported that the committee’s interest in Geovanis is an indication that the panel is looking further into Trump’s past than previously thought. 

Geovanis declined to comment to CNN when asked about his relationship with Trump and also declined to say whether he had been approached by the Senate Intelligence Committee, the network reported.

According to CNN, Geovanis obtained a Russian passport in 2014 after marrying a Russian woman and was last seen in the U.S. in early 2017.