Mueller looks at Cambridge Analytica, Trump ties

WASHINGTON» Special counsel Robert Mueller is scrutinizing connections between President Donald Trump’s campaign and data mining firm Cambridge Analytica, which has come under criticism over reports that it swiped the data of more than 50 million Facebook users to sway elections.

Mueller’s investigators have asked former officials about the Trump campaign’s data operations, particularly about how it collected and used voter data in battleground states.

The investigators also asked some of Trump’s data team, which included analysts at the Republican National Committee, about its relationship with Cambridge Analytica, according to two former campaign officials. The campaign paid the firm slightly less than $6 million for its work in 2016, federal records say.

Mueller is leading a criminal probe into whether Trump’s Republican presidential campaign had ties to Russia and whether he may have obstructed justice.

The Trump campaign has distanced itself from the data mining firm, which had been financed by major Republican donors and, for a time, employed Steve Bannon, the conservative provocateur who later became Trump’s campaign chief executive.

Trump turned to Twitter on Thursday to boast about his campaign’s social media efforts compared with those of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

“Remember when they were saying, during the campaign, that Donald Trump is giving great speeches and drawing big crowds, but he is spending much less money and not using social media as well as Crooked Hillary’s large and highly sophisticated staff. Well, not saying that anymore!” Trump wrote.

A request for an explanation from the White House was not returned.