While other Trump disasters and mistakes may have taken top spots in the news over the last two weeks, Special Counsel Robert Mueller was not distracted.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury in Washington to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections, a sign that his inquiry is growing in intensity and entering a new phase, according to people familiar with the matter.
And that jury is operating very quickly.
Grand jury subpoenas have been issued in connection with the June 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr., a Russian lawyer and others, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
In addition to investigating the Trump campaign’s clear collusion with Russian operatives seeking to repeal the sanctions imposed by the Magnitsky Act, there’s another area of focus by Mueller’s team.
Federal investigators exploring whether Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russian spies have seized on Trump and his associates' financial ties to Russia as one of the most fertile avenues for moving their probe forward, according to people familiar with the investigation.
The investigation of Trump’s Russia connections isn’t fizzling out. It’s getting hotter and it’s growing on multiple fronts. Both of which are likely connected to efforts on the right to demean Mueller and the growing possibility that Trump will step in to halt the investigation—a temptation that might be accelerated by a bipartisan bill to protect Mueller’s position.
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Several Republicans have spoken up to say that firing Mueller would be a mistake. But what action might be taken if Trump makes a move isn’t clear. In any case, Trump could well judge that any threat posed by senators angry over Mueller’s firing will be less than the possibility of what the special counsel might find.
Two weeks ago, Trump was asked if looking into his financial records crossed a red line.
TRUMP: I would say yeah. I would say yes. By the way, I would say, I don’t — I don’t — I mean, it’s possible there’s a condo or something, so, you know, I sell a lot of condo units, and somebody from Russia buys a condo, who knows? I don’t make money from Russia. In fact, I put out a letter saying that I don’t make — from one of the most highly respected law firms, accounting firms. I don’t have buildings in Russia. They said I own buildings in Russia. I don’t. They said I made money from Russia. I don’t. It’s not my thing. I don’t, I don’t do that. Over the years, I’ve looked at maybe doing a deal in Russia, but I never did one. Other than I held the Miss Universe pageant there eight, nine years. [CROSSTALK]
The mount of money Trump has made selling condos, homes, and buildings to oligarchs from Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Georgia is in the hundreds of millions—at least. His claims to have no financial connections from Russia are as much a lie as his greatest speech ever call from the Boy Scouts.
The FBI is reviewing financial records related to the Trump Organization, as well as Trump, his family members, including Donald Trump Jr., and campaign associates. They've combed through the list of shell companies and buyers of Trump-branded real estate properties and scrutinized the roster of tenants at Trump Tower reaching back more than a half-dozen years. They've looked at the backgrounds of Russian business associates connected to Trump surrounding the 2013 Miss Universe pageant. CNN could not determine whether the review has included his tax returns.
This story is moving out of the warm up, and into the game.