Special counsel Robert Mueller Robert Swan MuellerSasse: US should applaud choice of Mueller to lead Russia probe MORE is reportedly looking into a payment that a Ukrainian steel magnate made to President Trump Donald John TrumpChinese president vows to 'significantly lower' auto import tariff amid trade dispute McConnell sends warning over nomination votes Kudlow confronted over attacks on Obama deficit after rejecting CBO's projections on Trump budget MORE's foundation in exchange for a 20-minute video appearance to a conference.
The New York Times reported Monday that Mueller is investigating the $150,000 donation to the Donald J. Trump Foundation that Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk made in September 2015, while Trump was seeking the GOP nomination for president.
The payment came after Trump spoke through a video link to a conference in Kiev, according to the Times.
Mueller subpoenaed the Trump Organization for documents last month as part of his ongoing probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The subpoena reportedly involved documents related to Russia and other topics.
News that Mueller is looking into Pinchuk's donation comes a week after it was reported that the special counsel has questioned a trio of Russian oligarchs over whether they illegally sent cash donations to Trump's campaign or inauguration.
The donation from Pinchuk was allegedly solicited by Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, whose offices were raided by the FBI on Monday.
In Monday's raid, federal agents reportedly seized communications between Cohen and Trump, tax documents and records related to Cohen's $130,000 payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels.
The search warrants were obtained by federal prosecutors in Manhattan after they received a referral "in part" from Mueller.
Trump responded to reports of the raid by railing against the special counsel's investigation. He called it a "witch hunt," claimed Mueller's team was biased and said multiple people suggested he fire the special counsel.
Mueller's probe thus far has led to indictments or guilty pleas from three former Trump associates, and charges against 13 Russians for allegedly attempting to interfere in the election.
Whackjob-KSP on April 10th, 2018 at 05:34 UTC »
Trump's charity? To be clear, this is the charity, right, whose single largest expense was refurbishing a fountain at a trump hotel, and not, say, dealing with AIDS in africa like the clintons' was? That's the charity we're talking about here? The one that didn't seem to do any actual charity work?
TWDCody on April 10th, 2018 at 02:07 UTC »
The whining in here about Clinton is hilarious. Republicans control the entire government. If there was anything legitimate to all the claims levied against the Clintons, they'd be in jail long ago. Instead, Sessions released a statement saying no special counsel was needed to investigate her.
This is what happens when you live in a different reality.
cokoop on April 10th, 2018 at 00:44 UTC »
And as we know, when you give money to Trump's charity, you're giving money to Trump.
My Attorney Got Arrested