A person familiar with an investigation into potential coordination between Russian Federation and the Trump campaign says Special Counsel Robert Mueller is using a grand jury in Washington as part of the probe.
But Mueller dipping into Trump’s own personal finances is exactly what the president argued to the New York Times last month would be a “violation” of the scope of investigation delineated at the time Mueller was appointed by the Justice Department.
Josh Stueve, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment on the report. A grand jury is a common vehicle for government investigators to subpoena witnesses and records, though it doesn’t suggest any charges are near. “Grand jury matters are typically secret”, Mr. Cobb said.
This latest news comes on the heels of a CNN report that federal investigators are looking into “Trump and his associates’ financial ties to Russian Federation as one of the most fertile avenues for moving their probe forward”.
The White House said that it was unaware of a grand jury being impaneled in the Russian Federation investigation, as had been reported in the Wall Street Journal, but pledged cooperation in the probe.
Though the White House continues to downplay the probe’s significance and deny that the president himself is under investigation, former federal prosecutor Thomas Zeno told the Journal that Mueller’s decision to impanel a grand jury indicates the investigation is in fact “very vigorous”.
“With respect to reports of a federal grand jury, I have no reason to believe that President Trump is being investigated”, Dowd said.