Special counsel’s investigation into Trump associates to expand

The special counsel investigating possible ties between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia’s government has taken over a separate criminal probe involving former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and may expand his inquiry to investigate the roles of the attorney general and deputy attorney general in the firing of FBI Director James Comey, The Associated Press has learned.

The Justice Department’s criminal investigation into Mr. Manafort, who was forced to resign as Trump campaign chairman in August amid questions over his business dealings years ago in Ukraine, predated the 2016 election and the counter-intelligence probe that in July began investigating possible collusion between Moscow and associates of Mr. Trump.

The move to consolidate the matters, involving allegations of misuse of Ukrainian government funds, indicates that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is assuming a broad mandate in his new role running the sensational investigation.

No one familiar with the matter has been willing to discuss the scope of his investigation on the record because it is just getting under way and because revealing details could complicate its progress.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein acknowledged that Mr. Mueller could expand his inquiry to include Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ and Mr. Rosenstein’s own roles in the decision to fire Mr. Comey, who was investigating the Trump campaign.

When asked whether Mr. Mueller’s investigation could expand to include examining Mr. Sessions’ role, Mr. Rosenstein said, “The order is pretty clear. It gives him authority for the investigation and anything arising out of that investigation, and so Director Mueller will be responsible in the first instance for determining what he believes falls into that mandate.”

Putin on poll hacking

Meanwhile, in Moscow President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying by NBC News, American hackers could have planted false evidence that Russia interfered in the U.S. presidential election.