Special counsel Robert Mueller has assembled a list of figures cooperating with his Russia investigation that could provide him with substantial insight into the workings of the Trump campaign.
Mueller’s ability to turn associates of President Trump into cooperators has been a key facet of his investigation, lending both strength to a probe that has pressed on for nearly a year and a half amid withering public scrutiny.
Legal analysts expect former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and other recruits to bring the special counsel closer to getting to the bottom of whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow, though doing so may hinge on Mueller striking deals with even more figures.
With Mueller’s probe advancing behind closed doors, it is impossible for onlookers to judge the value or extent of any one witness’s cooperation.
At the same time, observers say the deals Mueller has struck signal he believes their cooperation to have significant value.
“If they have struck a deal where they’re going to cooperate, then that’s a pretty good indication that special counsel’s office believes they have something worth cooperating over,” said Jack Sharman, a former special counsel to Congress for the Whitewater investigation.
In Manafort, the newest cooperator, the special counsel has a window into the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between top campaign aides and a lawyer with connections to the Russian government.
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Sharman said the value of various people now talking to Mueller’s team could vary depending on what offenses they are looking into, and who they are considering charging with crimes.
He also acknowledged the opacity of the matter, something exacerbated by the fact that Mueller never speaks to the press.
“Nobody knows outside of that office and outside of the grand jury, what the substance of anyone’s cooperation is,” Sharman said.
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Manafort’s value extends beyond his involvement in the Trump Tower affair. Having spent five months as campaign chairman, Manafort could answer questions about the softening of language in the Republican Party’s platform on Ukraine and any possible accords with the Russians.
Former federal prosecutors also expect Mueller’s team to question Manafort on whether the campaign had advanced knowledge of Democratic emails hacked by Russia.
Court filings and proceedings have offered glimpses of the information provided by other players.
It was not initially clear whether Gates, who also worked on the Trump campaign and later on the transition, was cooperating beyond the Manafort case. However, a recent filing from his attorney suggests he is helping Mueller on other aspects of the investigation.
In a motion asking the court to remove Gates’ GPS tracker and lift some of his travel restrictions last week, his attorney, Tom Green, wrote that Gates’ interviews with the special counsel’s team “have been numerous and they continue to this day.”
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Mueller assembles team of cooperators in Russian probe https://t.co/JxKWxc2GCD pic.twitter.com/iK3oo8Qa9Z
— The Hill (@thehill) October 18, 2018
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