26 August, 2017
Friday, NBC News reported that the ex-FBI head and special counsel had issued subpoenas seeking testimony from multiple public relations executives tied to ex-Trump campaign head Paul Manafort.
Several unname people with direct knowledge of the matter told NBC that Mueller's team has asked for documents and testimony from firms who assisted Manafort's lobbying campaign, which ran from 2012 to 2014.
He appears to have piqued investigators' interests with his work for a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party and other global dealings, people familiar with the probe told NBC News.
Manafort was in the room during the now-infamous June 9, 2016 meeting in which top Trump campaign officials met with a Russian lawyer who claimed to have dirt on Hillary Clinton. NBC News has previously reported that Kushner is under scrutiny by investigators, and that Mueller is examining whether President Trump obstructed justice.
According to lobbying disclosures, two of the six firms - Podesta Group and Mercury LLC - worked in Washington with Rick Gates, a Manafort partner.
At the time, Ukraine was run by a pro-Russian political party that had paid Manafort millions of dollars in consulting fees in 2013 and 2014.
Yanukovych later plunged his country into chaos after he turned from a proposed association agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties to Russian Federation, leading to his ouster and the Kremlin's annexation of Crimea in 2014. Three other firms worked in Europe, the executive said.
Both Flynns and Mueller declined to comment on the Wall Street Journal's reporting. The executive told NBC News that was because the non-profit said that it was not funded by a government or a political party.
Under federal law, people who lobby on behalf of a foreign government or political party must disclose their activities to the Justice Department - even if they are paid through an intermediary. Manafort promoted Kremlin-friendly interests through sophisticated public relations campaigns, but did not register as a foreign agent until earlier this year.
