A new report has shown that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe has cost taxpayers almost $7 million from May 17 to September 30, which is when the federal fiscal year ended.
This news comes after outlets reported that Mueller sent a subpoena to Deutsche Bank earlier this fall for documents about President Donald Trump’s accounts and dealings.
From Fox News:
The sum includes $3.2 million in direct investigation expenses covering things like pay, supplies and rent; $1.7 million was for salary and benefits.Then there are the $3.5 in “indirect expenses,” covering expenses like agents working on raids or interviews and other government contractors. The office said those expenses would have been incurred “irrespective of the existence of the SCO.“
President Donald Trump and conservatives have called the investigation a waste of money, but there’s not much the government can do about it, according to The Hill:
But Congress has few avenues to cut off Mueller’s funding. His budget is not part of the annual Justice Department funding package that Congress approves, but instead comes from a permanent Treasury Department account. And the Justice regulations stipulate that he must be provided “all appropriate resources” to conduct this investigation.The only way Congress could cut off Mueller’s cash flow would likely be passing a stand-alone bill or attaching a rider to a spending bill blocking money for the investigation.
Mueller has to submit an expense report every six months.
Earlier today, reports came out that Mueller sent a subpoena to Deutsche Bank a few months ago, From The Wall Street Journal:
The subpoena requested documents and data about accounts and other dealings tied to client relationships with Mr. Trump and people close to him, the person said. The bank has lent more than $300 million to entities affiliated with Mr. Trump, according to public disclosures.Mr. Mueller is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, including flows of cash tied to Russia and people in Mr. Trump’s orbit, in a deepening probe that has led to charges against former advisers to Mr. Trump.
Reuters reported that one U.S. official explained the investigators want the documents “to find out whether Deutsche bank may have sold some of Trump’s mortgage or other loans to Russian development bank VEB or other Russian banks that are now under U.S. and European union sanctions.” They believe that holding this debt could give them “some leverage over Trump.”
Here are the details:
Trump had liabilities of at least $130 million to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, a unit of the German bank, according to a federal financial disclosure form released in June by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.The Deutsche debts include a loan exceeding $50 million for the Old Post Office, a historic property he redeveloped in downtown Washington, mortgages worth more than $55 million on a golf course in Florida, and a $25 million-plus loan on a Trump hotel and condominium in Chicago, the disclosure shows.All of those loans were taken out in 2012 and will mature in 2023 and 2024, according to the disclosure.
The New York Times asked Trump in July if Mueller probing “his or his family’s finances unrelated to the Russia probe would cross a red line.” He said yes, but didn’t offer details on what he would do if Mueller took that step.
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