WASHINGTON—Special counsel Robert Mueller has asked questions about the work of a private consulting firm that has undertaken projects for the United Arab Emirates, according to people familiar with the investigation, suggesting his probe is looking more deeply at foreign influence in Washington.

The questions by Mr. Mueller’s team concern a private consulting firm, Wikistrat, as well as two of its co-founders, Joel Zamel and Daniel Green.

Wikistrat—which was founded in Israel in 2010 and today is based in Washington, D. C.—bills itself as a crowdsourced consulting firm that draws on a large network of experts to help analyze geopolitical problems on behalf of corporate clients and governments.

Marc Mukasey, a lawyer for Messrs. Zamel and Green and Wikistrat, said that his clients aren’t a focus of the probe.

“Joel is a bright young businessman and Wikistrat has been privileged to serve several U.S. government clients,” Mr. Mukasey, chairman of white collar defense at the law firm Greenberg Traurig, said in a statement. “Joel and Wikistrat have only a tenuous connection to the special counsel’s investigation and are cooperating fully.”

Mr. Zamel has informally met with Mr. Mueller’s team, according to a person familiar with the matter, and was asked questions about his business relationship with George Nader, a Lebanese-American who serves as a top adviser to U.A.E. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and was also close to Trump administration officials last year.


The person described Mr. Zamel’s relationship with Mr. Nader, who has been cooperating with the Mueller investigation since earlier this year, as “arms’ length.”

Mr. Mueller’s team also asked Mr. Zamel questions about his work, including for certain clients, the person said. The ultimate target of this line of inquiry is unknown.

A spokesman for Mr. Mueller declined to comment.

Mr. Mueller’s mandate is to investigate “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump.” The order appointing him says he is also empowered to examine ”any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.”


American intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.

When it comes to the Russia investigation, the word "Collusion" gets thrown around a lot. But there's not a lot of clarity on what it actually means. Is it illegal? Is it grounds for impeachment? We asked a law professor to explain. Photo Illustration: Drew Evans/The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Trump has denied any collusion by his campaign with Russia, and Moscow has denied interfering in the U.S. election.

According to people familiar with the firm’s work, Wikistrat was contracted by the U.A.E. beginning in 2015 to conduct war game scenarios on Islamist political movements in Yemen. Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. both entered the Yemeni civil war in early 2015, aiming to combat an Islamist insurgency. That conflict is still ongoing.

Wikistrat’s efforts for the Gulf state later morphed into what one person close to the company referred to as “intelligence lite”—using local on-the-ground sources to anticipate threats. Mr. Zamel in recent years had built a close relationship with top Emirati national security officials and has held business meetings in the U.A.E., according to people familiar with the matter.


The U.A.E., together with Saudi Arabia, has aggressively courted the Trump administration in a bid to win U.S. backing for a regional campaign designed to counter and isolate Qatar, another Gulf state that is a close U.S. ally.

The extent and nature of Mr. Zamel’s relationship with Mr. Nader is unclear. A person familiar with the matter said the two have “done some business together.”

During the presidential transition early last year, both men were seeking to build relationships with the incoming Trump administration.

Mr. Zamel asked his contacts whether they were close to top officials in the incoming White House, according to the person close to Wikistrat. In December 2016, when Mr. Zayed met with Trump transition officials in New York, Mr. Nader didn’t attend the meeting but greeted Emirati officials as they were departing, according to a person familiar with the interaction.


Mr. Nader also held multiple meetings at the White House in the early months of the administration, including with then chief strategist Steve Bannon and senior adviser Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Mueller has heard testimony from Mr. Nader about a meeting in the Seychelles weeks before Mr. Trump’s inauguration between a Russian executive close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Erik Prince, a top GOP donor close to the Trump transition team. Mr. Nader also has close ties to Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy, who has informally discussed with the White House issues related to U.A.E., a country where he has business interests.

Wikistrat was founded by Messrs. Zamel and Green in 2010, and they described the company as “Wikipedia meets Facebook ” in a 2011 interview with the Jerusalem Post. Wikistrat, which aims to use the collective wisdom of its experts to produce analysis and forecasts for its clients, says that it has a pool of roughly 2,200 experts it can tap for client projects.

Mr. Zamel, an Australian native, is based in Israel. A online profile for Mr. Green indicates that he is based in the Washington area.

The firm’s work for the U.A.E. involved looking at the deteriorating political situation in Yemen in 2015, specifically at the power of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist political movement. Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. have in recent years perceived the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat to regional stability, especially after it briefly took power in Egypt in 2012.

Wikistrat put together a war game concerning the political situation in Yemen for the U. A. E and then briefed top Emirati national security officials twice, according to a person familiar with the matter. The experts involved in the war game didn’t know the client were the Emiratis.

Write to Byron Tau at byron.tau@wsj.com, Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com and Aruna Viswanatha at Aruna.Viswanatha@wsj.com