Who’s who: Key players in Russia probe
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has netted its first charges against members of President Trump’s campaign team. Some of the key players in the investigation and their connections to the campaign and administration. ❚
Flynn Jr. worked closely with his father and worked briefly on the Trump transition team, helping with scheduling and administrative items. ❚
The president’s oldest son met with Senate investigators for five hours in September about his June 9, 2016, meeting with a Russian attorney who claimed to have dirt on Clinton. Trump Jr. told investigators he was skeptical about the meeting but decided to go in case it revealed information about Clinton’s “fitness” to be president. Trump Jr. maintains he did not collude with Russians during the campaign. ❚
The president’s son-in-law, who also attended the Trump Tower meeting with the Russian attorney, spoke in July with Senate Intelligence Committee staff investigating Russia’s interference in the presidential election. ❚
The attorney general, a former Republican senator from Alabama, recused himself from the investigation after reports disclosed he had met twice last year with Russian Ambassador Kislyak. Sessions had stated under oath during his confirmation hearing that he did not have any contact with Russian officials during the campaign; Sessions has said the meetings were unrelated to campaign business. ❚
Paul Manafort
Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, once represented the former leader of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, when the longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin ran the country. Manafort signed on to run Trump’s campaign in March 2016 but left in August, after the Republican National Convention.
Rick Gates
Gates worked with Manafort in the private sector and followed him to Trump’s campaign. Gates moved to the Republican National Committee when Manafort was ousted from the campaign, and he helped set up a pro-Trump super PAC after the election.
George Papadopolous
Papadopolous, who served as a policy adviser to the Trump campaign, pleaded guilty in October to charges he lied to FBI agents investigating election meddling. Papadopolous acknowledged in his Oct. 5 guilty plea that after joining the Trump campaign, he met with a Russian professor and a woman he described in an email as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s niece to discuss their offers of damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
Carter Page
Page, who runs investment company Global Energy Capital, was an early foreign policy adviser to the campaign. He was accused by former Senate minority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., of being a conduit between Trump and the Russian government, which Page denied. Page met behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee on Friday and will appear before the House Intelligence Committee in a closed-door session on Nov. 2. Those committees are both investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Michael Flynn
Flynn served as Trump’s national security adviser but resigned on Feb. 13, less than a week after news reports surfaced that he had misled officials, including Vice President Pence, about his communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Flynn’s now-defunct consulting firm also is under scrutiny by authorities. Flynn had been a paid adviser for Turkish interests before taking the White House job but apparently failed to disclose that relationship as required.
Mike Flynn Jr. Donald Trump Jr. Jared Kushner Jeff Sessions Robert Mueller
The former FBI director was appointed by the Justice Department in May to oversee the investigation of Russian election interference after Sessions removed himself from the probe and Trump fired James Comey as FBI director. Mueller is looking into any links or coordination between the Russians and Trump’s campaign and any other matters that may arise from the investigation.