Special Counsel Robert Mueller has expanded his Russia investigation to include Tony Podesta, a powerful Democratic lobbyist and the brother of Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta.
(Photo by Rebecca D’Angelo/For the Washington Post)
Per a report from NBC News, the probe of Podesta and his lobbying firm, The Podesta Group, grew out of Mueller’s inquiry into the finances of Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Manafort had organized a public relations campaign for a non-profit called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine (ECMU), which promoted Ukraine’s image in the West. Podesta’s company was one of the firms that worked on the campaign, which was reportedly backed by a pro-Russia party and NBC’s sources say Mueller is pursuing a criminal inquiry into whether the firm violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Under FARA, people who lobby on behalf of foreign governments must register through the Justice Department as a foreign agent and disclose all their work. The Podesta Group didn’t amend its FARA registration to accurately reflect its work with ECMU until after the payments were reported by the media.
However, in a statement Monday, a spokesman for The Podesta Group said the firm fully complied with FARA. “The Podesta Group fully disclosed its representation of the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine (ECFMU), and complied with FARA by filing under the lobbying disclosure act over five years ago and within weeks of starting our work. Any insinuation to the contrary is false,” the statement said. “The Podesta Group has fully cooperated with the Special Counsel’s office and taken every possible step to provide documentation that confirms compliance with the law.”
Mueller’s office declined to comment on whether he’s investigating Podesta and his firm. However, this new development proves that the Mueller probe may be expanding and evolving from the Trump/conservative witch hunt that it once was. As James Trusty, a former high-ranking DOJ official, told Fox News, “You’ll find there are prosecutions no one would have anticipated at the start, or corruption from a different party than were initially looked at.”
It’s about time someone looked into Democratic Russian collusion.
What do you think about this new development in Mueller’s Russia probe? Share your thoughts and comments below!
