Mueller casts broad net in requesting records
WASHINGTON» The special counsel investigating Russian election meddling has requested extensive records and email correspondence from the White House, covering issues from the president’s private discussions about firing his FBI director to his White House’s handling of a warning that the Trump national security adviser was under investigation, according to two people briefed on the requests.
White House lawyers are now working to turn over internal documents that span 13 categories that investigators for the special counsel have identified as critical to their probe, the people said. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, appointed in May in the wake of Trump firing FBI Director James Comey, took over the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Russians in that effort.
The list of requests was described in detail by two people briefed on them. Both insisted on anonymity to discuss a sensitive investigation. Some details of the requests were reported first by The New York Times on Wednesday afternoon.
The requests broadly ask for any document or email related to a series of highly publicized incidents since Trump became president, including the firing of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and Comey, the people said. The list demonstrates Mueller’s focus on key moments and actions by the president and close advisers, which can address whether Trump sought to block the FBI investigations of Flynn and of Russian interference. His team also is trying to determine whether the president sought to obstruct the earlier Russia probe.
The special counsel team’s work has zeroed in recent months on Paul Manafort, a former chairman of the Trump campaign, and Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser. An official close to the probe said both men are under investigation.
Mueller’s agents have questioned witnesses and business associates of both men about whether the men sought to conceal the nature of consulting work they did that could benefit foreign governments. In a raid of Manafort’s home last month, agents sought to seize records related to Manafort’s finances.
In the past few weeks, White House lawyer Ty Cobb, a former federal prosecutor who was managing partner at Hogan & Hartson’s Denver office in 2004, began sending a series of records to the special counsel. Cobb is working within the White House to gather more of those documents and has told staff members and other lawyers that he hoped to turn over many more this week.