iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — Former Trump campaign aide Michael Caputo is meeting behind closed doors with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team this afternoon as part of their investigation into alleged Russian meddling during the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between the country and Trump’s campaign.
His appearance with the special counsel marks Caputo’s second meeting with investigators looking into Russian meddling in as many days. On Tuesday, Caputo sat down with Senate Intelligence Committee staff investigators as part of their ongoing investigation. Senators on the committee did not attend, as Congress is in recess all week.
Ahead of his Tuesday meeting with the Senate panel’s investigators, Caputo again said the Trump campaign did not collude with the Russians during the 2016 campaign.
“I’m looking forward to talking to the Senate committee,” Caputo told ABC News. “I hope it’s the last time I’m asked to talk to anyone in Congress.” Last summer, Caputo testified before the House Intelligence Committee as part of their parallel investigation into alleged Russian meddling — an investigation that has since concluded.
In a transcript of his closing remarks to Senate investigators obtained by ABC News, Caputo bemoaned the financial toll of legal expenses he’s racked up over the course of these investigators, telling the panel, “God Damn you to Hell.”
Caputo, an associate of another former Trump adviser, Roger Stone, worked for the Trump campaign from November 2015 to June 2016 as a political adviser. Caputo and Stone met in the mid-80s when Caputo worked at Stone’s lobbying firm, Black, Manafort, and Stone, as Stone’s driver. Later, Caputo worked in the press shop of Trump’s short-lived 1988 presidential campaign that was spearheaded, in part, by Stone.
In the 1990s, Caputo lived in Russia while working for then-President Boris Yeltsin. In 2001, Caputo returned to the U.S. to work for an energy company with ties to current Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Stone and Caputo joined forces again in 2015, serving in the nascent days of Trump’s presidential run.
ABC News has previously reported that Caputo was contacted by the FBI in July of 2017, citing a source with knowledge of the situation.
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