Trump associate Felix Sater to testify Tuesday before House Intel

President Trump’s onetime business associate Felix Sater is set to testify privately before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday after missing an earlier scheduled appearance.

Sater’s attorney Robert Wolf confirmed the closed-door appearance, which was first reported by other outlets, in an email to The Hill. A spokesman for the House Intelligence Committee declined to comment Monday evening.   

{mosads}The committee subpoenaed Sater to appear for an interview after he failed to show up for a planned voluntary appearance in June. At the time, Sater’s attorney said he did not show up because of “unexpected health reasons.” Sater also told a handful of news outlets at the time that he overslept. 

The Intelligence Committee sought Sater’s testimony as part of its wide-ranging investigation into Russian interference and Trump’s business dealings in Russia. 

The committee is interested in Sater, the former managing director for the New York-based real estate firm Bayrock Group, because he worked with former Trump attorney Michael Cohen to broker plans to build a Trump real estate property in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign. 

The property plans never came to fruition, but they attracted scrutiny from former special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional investigators because of their timing. As part of a deal to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the duration of the property discussions within the Trump Organization. He is currently serving a three-year prison term for that and other crimes. 

Trump, who didn’t disclose the property plans during the campaign, signed a letter of intent to pursue the project but ultimately did not go through with it. Sater’s involvement in the real estate project is detailed in Mueller’s report.

Sater was initially slated to testify publicly before the committee in March following Cohen’s closed-door interview, but his testimony was twice postponed.