Sources: Mueller got Trump camp emails

WASHINGTON — Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian contacts with President Donald Trump’s campaign has gained access to thousands of emails sent and received by Trump officials before the start of his administration, according to several people familiar with Trump’s transition organization.

But the investigators did not directly request the records from Trump for America, and instead obtained them from the General Services Administration, a separate federal agency that stored the material, according to several people.

That prompted an attorney for Trump for America to claim that Mueller was not authorized to obtain the organization’s emails.

“This morning we sent a letter to Congress concerning the unauthorized sharing of private and transition emails with the Mueller team,” lawyer Kory Langhofer said in an interview Saturday.

The General Services Administration has provided office space and other aid to presidential transitions in recent years and typically houses transition records in its computer system. But Trump for America claims legal ownership of those records, saying they are not government property.

According to those familiar with Trump for America, a top General Services Administration official assured the transition group in June that any request from Mueller’s office for the records would be referred to the transition group.