accuracy of what we released yesterday. it s cnn reporting that robert mueller pulled this russian oligarch aside at an airport, his investigators, to ask him about this payment. so it s our reporting, sure, yes, you just wanted to see if it was what your source was because there s speculation that it s some sort of suspicious bank activity document. just like you don t disclose your sources, i m not going to disclose my sources because that s my work product. cnn independently reported, you re correct, that mueller s team questioned this oligarch about these payments and there s multiple payments totaling approximately half a million dollars. what is your evidence that viktor vekselberg, the russian oligarch, directed this payment? as you know, the u.s. affiliate, columbus nova says, no connection to that russian oligarch. so how do you know he directed the payment? they ve said all kinds of things that make no sense. they re distancing themselves for some reason from the enti
industries. korean aerospace industries is working to secure a defense contract with the u.s. air force and declined to comment to the the new york times. at&t is currently engaged in a legal battle with the justice department over a proposed merger with time warner. cnn s parent company. in a statement, at&t said, essential consulting was one of several firms we engaged in early 2017 to provide incites into understanding the new administration. they it no legal work or lobbying for us and the contract ended in december 2017. so just this morning we ve received a new statement from know various dis about this arrangement with cohen. their new ceo had nothing to do with it and they stress that the arrangement was focused on u.s. health care policy matters. now it was also revealed that they were cooperating with the mueller investigation in november of 2017. they say they fully cooperated with that.
house. reporter: we re learning some new details today about michael cohen, the president s personal lawyer and his finances. his ties to a company that s linked to a russian oligarch who was sanctioned by the u.s. for election meddling. that oligarch cnn has learned has been questioned by the mueller investigative team and we also have some new details about what the investigators asked him about. cnn has learned that special counsel robert mueller s investigators questioned russian oligarch viktor vekselberg about hundreds of thousands of dollars his company s u.s. affiliate columbus nova paid to president trump s personal attorney michael cohen after the 2016 election. viktor vekselberg he s close to vladimir putin and one of several glarkz sanctioned by the u.s. government next month. the company was also hit with penalties in retaliation for russia s interference in the election. i can t make any comments as it relates to our sanctions or any specifics.
let s get to cnn s abby phillip live at the white house. reporter: this is breaking news and really important news on the front of the president s upcoming meeting with north korea. he sent his cia director mike pompeo to north korea under the cover of secrecy in the last several days and pompeo is now on his way back to the united states with those three americans who have been detained in north korea for months. here s what the president tweeted. i m please today inform you that secretary of state mike pompeo is in the air and on his way back from north korea with three wonderful gentlemen that everyone is looking so forward to meeting. they seem to be in good health. also good meeting with kim jong-un, date and place set. that s for that meeting with kim jong-un. he also added that secretary pompeo and his guests will be landing at andrews air force base at 2:00 a.m. in the morning. i ll be there to greet them. the president has been waiting for it seems these detainees to be rele
close to a politician, in this case close to the president of the united states, which is highly unusual selling access, potential access, to the president of the united states. reporter: cohen did not respond for comment. a source tells cnn that mueller also questioned viktor vekselberg about his cousin s generous campaign contributions to mr. trump including a $250,000 donation to the president s inauguration fund. the new york times reports that both viktor vekselberg and introder attended president trump s inauguration where they met with cohen before setting up the arrangement. financial records reviewed by the new york times indicate that cohen s company also received payments from a number of corporations, including nearly $400,000 from a subsidiary of pharmaceutical company know variousis. $150,000 from korea aero space