Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned President Trump this morning against interfering with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation following the indictment and surrender of Paul Manafort. Schumer called on Congress to act in a bipartisan manner to ensure that the Russia probe remains intact if Trump chooses to intervene.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi reacted to Paul Manafort's indictment and surrender this morning under "an accelerating Special Counsel investigation" by reiterating her call for a fully independent Russia investigation free of partisan politics.
Think back: Pelosi asked for the same thing back in March when House Intel Chair Devin Nunes made secret visits to the White House to receive briefings on classified documents tied to Russia.
In fall 2015, Fusion GPS, an investigative firm run by former senior reporters at the Wall Street Journal, began working on a new assignment — a deep dive into Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The Washington Free Beacon, funded by a Republican backer of Trump rival Sen. Marco Rubio, was the client. Quickly, Fusion's researchers understood one big thing about Trump's business empire: It seemed inordinately weighted to Russia, and so they turned much effort to untangling that part of his business story.
Why it matters: Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress have sought to discredit Fusion as a tool of the Democratic Party. But the history of the firm's principals suggests no motive apart from the thrill of the chase, and of course earning serious money. The focus on Russia appears to have been a natural course of what they found.
