NBC News, WSJ: Mueller pulls the trigger – subpoenas fly
Two big Russiagate stories breaking Friday:
-
- NBC News reports that Independent Counsel Robert Mueller has issued grand jury subpoenas this week for testimony concerning ties between a Trump campaign official’s associates and foreign entities. Paul Manafort is in the crosshairs.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller issued grand jury subpoenas in recent days seeking testimony from public relations executives who worked on an international campaign organized by Paul Manafort, people directly familiar with the matter told NBC News.
This is the first public indication that Mueller’s investigation is beginning to compel witness testimony before the grand jury — a significant milestone in an inquiry that is examining the conduct of President Donald Trump and his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, among others.
It is also further indication that Manafort, Trump’s onetime campaign chairman, could be in serious legal jeopardy.
According to one executive whose firm received a subpoena, Mueller’s team is closely examining the lobbying campaign, which ran between 2012 and 2014. Some of the firms involved in the campaign received subpoenas for documents weeks ago, the executive said, and now the Mueller team is seeking testimony.
“We think they are trying to figure out, was this a legitimate project?” the executive said. “From our perspective it was — we did a lot of work. We took it seriously.”
- NBC News reports that Independent Counsel Robert Mueller has issued grand jury subpoenas this week for testimony concerning ties between a Trump campaign official’s associates and foreign entities. Paul Manafort is in the crosshairs.
.
- The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, reports that Mueller is investigating the role former national security adviser Michael Flynn may have played in a clandestine effort to obtain Hillary Clinton’s emails from Russian hackers for the Trump campaign.
Special counsel Robert Mueller is examining what role, if any, former national security adviser Mike Flynn may have played in a private effort to obtain Hillary Clinton’s emails from Russian hackers, according to people familiar with the matter.
The effort to seek out hackers who were believed to have stolen Mrs. Clinton’s emails, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, was led by a longtime Republican activist, Peter W. Smith. In correspondence and conversations with his colleagues, Mr. Smith portrayed Mr. Flynn as an ally in those efforts and implied that other senior Trump campaign officials were coordinating with him, which they have denied. He also named Mr. Flynn’s consulting firm and his son in the correspondence and conversations.
The special counsel is investigating potential coordination between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia in the 2016 election.
