Axios

Black smoke was seen coming from the chimney of the Russian consulate in San Francisco just one day after the Trump administration ordered its closure, per the AP.

And now the weather: It's 95 degrees today in usually temperate San Francisco.

Why it matters: Russian officials wouldn't allow firefighters into the building, and a spokesperson for the San Francisco Fire Department told the AP that the fire "was not unintentional. They were burning something in the fireplace." Given the current tensions between Russia and the U.S., it's not surprising that this might happen.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is teaming up with agents from the IRS's Criminal Investigations unit to help aide in his Russia probe, reports The Daily Beast's Betsy Woodruff.

• The unit, which Woodruff describes as "one of the federal government's most tight-knit, specialized, and secretive investigative entities" focuses solely on financial crimes, such as tax evasion and money laundering.
• The agency also has access to the president's tax returns, which Trump has repeatedly refused to submit to the public.
• Timing: Reports surfaced on Wednesday that Mueller is now working with NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has investigated Trump's business dealings, in his probe of Paul Manafort. Mueller and Schneiderman's teams have reportedly already collected evidence on financial crimes, including potential money laundering.
• Why it matters: Muller teaming up with the IRS is just another sign that his Russia investigation is intensifying, and reveals that financial crimes have become a central part of his probe.

The U.S. retaliated Thursday against Vladimir Putin's move to force the U.S. to reduce its embassy staff in Russia by 755. Putin had made that move in response to looming U.S. sanctions, since signed by President Trump.

The tit-for-tat began last December, after Barack Obama seized two Russian compounds in the U.S., accusing the Kremlin of using them as spy bases. In the interim, President Trump had been considering returning those Russian compounds, including a beautiful 45-acre estate in Maryland, after Russia warned relations couldn't improve until Trump did so.

Axios went to Maryland in July to look at the summer retreat at the heart of U.S.-Russia relations.

"Lobbyist in Trump Tower meeting spoke to grand jury," by AP's Chad Day and Eric Tucker: "A grand jury used by Special Counsel Robert Mueller has heard secret testimony from a Russian-American lobbyist [Rinat Akhmetshin] who attended a June 2016 meeting with ... Trump's eldest son," plus Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort.

• Why it matters: "The revelation is the clearest indication yet that Mueller and his team of investigators view the meeting, which came weeks after Trump had secured the Republican presidential nomination, as a relevant inquiry point in their broader probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election."