Mueller wants to interview that Russian pop star who helped set up Don Jr’s Trump Tower meeting

President Donald Trump launched his latest tirade against special counsel Robert Mueller Wednesday when he asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to “stop this Rigged Witch Hunt” immediately. His lawyer Rudy Giuliani soon followed Trump’s lead and said that Mueller should “put up or shut up.”

Mueller rarely, if ever, speaks publicly, but he does like interviewing people. And on Thursday, he set his sights on another target with ties to Trump: Russian pop star Emin Agalarov.

NBC News reported on Thursday that conversations between Agalarov’s lawyer, Scott Balber, and Mueller’s team are ongoing. Balber told NBC News that it is still “unclear how this will play out.”

In an exclusive interview with VICE News last month, Agalarov acknowledged he played a part in setting up the infamous June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, where Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner met with a Russian lawyer who supposedly had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton.

But Emin has offered little in the way of details about where the initial request for the meeting came from. Ultimately, he said, the meeting was "pointless" and about "nothing."

Emin and his father, Russian real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, were were virtually unknown in America until the 2016 election. But they've had a relationship with Trump that dates back to at least 2013, when they partnered with the Trump Organization in their 2013 Miss America pageant in Moscow. Trump also appeared in one of Agalarov’s music videos that same year.

Read: We spoke to Emin Agalarov about a conversation Donald Trump Jr claimed to have forgotten

For his part, Don Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he didn’t remember any of the conversations he had with Agalarov at the height of the 2016 campaign. But Agalarov remembers their chats just fine.

“I said, ‘Listen, there's some people that want to meet you,’” Emin told VICE News in July. “‘They obviously want something that could potentially help them resolve things that you could be interested in, or maybe not. If you can spare a few minutes of your time, I'd be grateful. If not, no problem.’ Obviously Don Jr., obviously, being Don Jr., said, ‘Of course. I'll do it if you're asking.’”

The president's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen has now said that Trump knew about the meeting in advance — although Trump vehemently denies that. If Mueller gets his wish to interview Emin, that information could come out.

When asked about the infamous Steele Dossier and the wild rumors surrounding Trump’s Moscow visit during the 2013 Miss America pageant, Emin expressed serious doubt.

“Mr. Trump came to Moscow with 87 most beautiful ladies in the world. I would never even offer it, because I can never live up to the high level of the most amazing and beautiful women surrounding us constantly,” Emin told VICE News. “I don’t think any successful people are interested in buying sex.”

Cover image: Miss USA 2013 Erin Brady and Donald Trump, co-owner of the Miss Universe Organization, look on as Russian singer EminAgalarov (R) speaks during a news conference after the 2013 Miss USA pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada June 16, 2013. (REUTERS/Steve Marcus)