The president and his allies’ hopes for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation to soon be closed have long been dashed. In fact, one of the most recent allies of the president to call for Mueller to be fired has since himself lost his position in Trump World. John Dowd left the president’s legal team shortly after calling for the Mueller probe to be closed.
As the latest indication of the fact that Mueller’s investigation is still very much alive, CNN is now reporting that his team has questioned a handful of Russian oligarchs in various settings. The oligarchs were not named in the report, but it did describe the circumstances of their questioning. After their private jet landed at a New York area airport, one Russian oligarch had their electronics searched, and a second individual was also stopped in a circumstance described by CNN as a “recent trip to the U.S.”
As for the third unnamed Russian oligarch, Mueller’s team is reported to have sent an “informal voluntary document and interview request.”
The scrutiny of the unnamed prominent Russians comes as Mueller’s team is reported to be investigating an array of possible avenues by which foreign money made it to the Trump team. For instance, the special counsel has been reported recently to be looking into the question of whether or not the United Arab Emirates had illegally funneled money to the Trump team. To that end, investigators have secured the cooperation of adviser to the U.A.E.’s government and occasional Trump ally George Nader.
There’s a similar line of reasoning behind the special counsel going after the unnamed trio of Russian oligarchs. Investigators are looking into whether or not they facilitated the transfer of foreign funds to Trump team accounts. It’s not clear whether Mueller has gotten ahold of concrete evidence implicating the Russian oligarchs in question or if the questioning is more meant to tie up loose ends. It’s not as though he is broadcasting the details of his inquiry; a spokesperson for the special counsel declined a request from CNN for comment.
Russian money could have reached the Trump team through means including companies or think tanks that have active political action committees. Russian money could also have traveled through “straw donors,” a term referring to individuals with American citizenship who facilitate the transfer of foreign money into the American political system. Such a set-up would be useful because it’s illegal for foreign nationals to contribute to U.S. political campaigns.
The issue of Russian money taking possible convoluted routes to the U.S. electoral system has been in the news recently in a context other than Mueller’s probe. There have been reports about the FBI and the Federal Election Commission both looking into Russian donations to the National Rifle Association, a longtime ardent supporter of the president.
Scrutiny in that case has focused on Alexander Torshin, a Russian politician who has long cultivated a connection to the organization.
Another prominent Russian individual who has figured prominently in recent Russia scandal reporting is Kirill Dmitriev, the leader of the Russian Direct Investment Fund who met overseas with Trump ally Erik Prince in what may have been an attempt to set up a back channel of communications between the Trump team and the Kremlin.
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