The Senate Intelligence Committee interviewed Felix Sater, a former business associate of President Donald Trump who tried to get him a deal in Moscow, on Wednesday as part of its investigation into Russian election interference.



Sater spent approximately seven hours speaking with committee staff behind closed doors. “I am happy to fully cooperate with any investigation that my government is conducting,” Sater said after the interview.

A spokesperson for North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, the committee chair, did not return a request for comment. A spokesperson for Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the vice chair of the committee, declined to comment. Warner previously told BuzzFeed News that “Mr. Sater's been mentioned a number of times in a prominent fashion,” but declined to comment further.

Sater is one of the most mysterious figures in the Trump-Russia investigation and has spoken previously to special counsel Robert Mueller and the House Intelligence Committee. In a statement to the House, Sater — who has been deeply connected to the Trump Organization — revealed for the first time the extent of his work as a high-level asset to US intelligence and law enforcement agencies. At least six members of Mueller’s team worked for the Department of Justice while Sater produced important details about cybercrimes, al-Qaeda, and North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

He repeated that information to the Senate committee Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the matter. While no one would say what Sater was asked, or how he responded, two subjects were likely at the top of investigators’ list: a proposed Trump Tower in Moscow and a supposed Ukrainian “peace plan.”

The committee recently asked the Treasury Department for financial information on Sater and his real estate firm, Bayrock Group, which did deals with the Trump Organization in the early 2000s. In a letter to Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network dated Dec. 7, the committee asked for any potential suspicious activity reports and other bank documents on Sater, Bayrock, and other people and businesses. Banks must report to the Treasury transactions that have the characteristics of money laundering or other financial wrongdoing, but the reports themselves are not evidence of a crime — many of the transactions are legal.

It’s unclear whether FinCEN has turned over any documents related to Sater, but it has identified 25 suspicious activity reports associated with his financial transactions and more than a dozen associated with Bayrock, sources say.