The following article by Max Greenwood was posted on the Hill website December 16, 2017:
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators is in possession of tens of thousands of emails from the Trump transition team, Axios reported Saturday.
Those emails include messages belonging to President Trump‘s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, as well as other members of the transition team’s political leadership and the foreign policy team, according to Axios.
Mueller’s prosecutors reportedly used the emails to question witnesses, and are also looking to the messages to confirm information and follow new leads.
According to Axios, Mueller obtained the emails from the General Services Administration, which managed the transition team’s email accounts. Transition officials had reportedly assumed that Mueller would want the emails, and separated ones that they believed contained privileged information.
But Mueller was reportedly able to obtain all the emails from 12 accounts.
Mueller’s office declined to comment on the report.
Mueller’s team is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, as well as possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow. Trump has denied any improper communications or coordination with Russians during the campaign.
In October, Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and one of his associates were charged with tax evasion and money laundering, among other offenses. George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser for Trump’s campaign, pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about his contacts with Russian representatives.
Weeks later, Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. in the month before Trump took office. He acknowledged that he is cooperating with Mueller’s probe.