August 03, 2017 02:55 PM UTC

Mueller Calls Grand Jury in Trump Russia Investigation

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

Big news this afternoon, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal:

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury in Washington to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections, a sign that his inquiry is growing in intensity and entering a new phase, according to people familiar with the matter.

The full WSJ story is behind a paywall, so here’s more from CNN:

The move would signal a new step in the investigation, which Trump has lambasted as a “witch hunt.” Trump has denied any collusion between his team and the Russians. US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia attempted to sway the presidential contest in Trump’s favor.

As CNN also reports today, Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia is expanding to include questions of financial ties between Trump and Russia:

Federal investigators exploring whether Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Russian spies have seized on Trump and his associates’ financial ties to Russia as one of the most fertile avenues for moving their probe forward, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The web of financial ties could offer a more concrete path toward potential prosecution than the broader and murkier questions of collusion in the 2016 campaign, these sources said…

…The increased financial focus hasn’t gone unnoticed by Trump, who warned Mueller, via an interview with The New York Times, that his financial dealings were a red line that investigators shouldn’t cross. But the order establishing the special counsel makes clearMueller is authorized to investigate any matters that “arose or may arise directly from the investigation.”

We’re probably nowhere close to a conclusion to this investigation, but this is not good news for the White House.