Axios

Special Counsel Bob Mueller subpoenaed Russian-related documents from more than a dozen top Trump campaign officials last month, per "a person familiar with the matter," the WSJ reports.

Why it matters: This is the first known request from Mueller for information from the campaign itself. The campaign has been voluntarily complying with the special counsel investigation and its requests for information, so this suggests Mueller's requests aren't being fully met. Failure to provide requested documents can count as obstructing a grand-jury investigation.

China is far from having a cult of Xi that comes anything close to the cult of Mao that led to the disastrous Cultural Revolution, but some of the signs are worrisome. Ucanews reports that local officials in Jiangxi province offered poverty relief aid in exchange for Christian residents to replace religious images with posters of Xi.

Key quote: "The message from officials stated that the Christians involved had 'recognized their mistakes and decided not to entrust to Jesus but to the (Communist) Party' claiming the Christians voluntarily removed 624 religious images and posted 453 portraits of Xi."

Freedom's House has released its "Freedom on the Net 2017" report. The China section claims that:

• China was the world's worst abuser of internet freedom for the third consecutive year;
• The 2016 cybersecurity law mandates real name registration and storage of PRC user data within China;
• Censorship on WeChat increased and several were detained for comments on WeChat;
• New rules constrict the space for online news;
• A crackdown virtual private network (VPN) tools.

Ren Xianliang, deputy director of the Cyberspace Administration of China criticized the report, per Reuters:

• "We should not just make the internet fully free, it also needs to be orderly...The United States and Europe also need to deal with these fake news and rumors."

The key point: Chinese officials, some of who have warned for years of "hostile foreign forces" using the internet to subvert China, believe they have found the solution to managing the political risks from the internet while harnessing its economic and technological power. The interference in the U.S. presidential election process by Russia, a "hostile foreign force" to America, only strengthens their resolve.

One interesting fact: The censorship has not hurt wealth creation. Overseas-listed Chinese internet firms have a combined market capitalization of over one trillion dollars, and three of China's richest people are internet moguls.

Tech and real estate are the paths to riches in China. The latest top five are:

1. Hui Ka Yan, chairman of real estate developer China Evergrande: $40.7 billion;
2. Tencent co-founder and chairman Pony Ma Huateng:$39 billion;
3. Jack Ma, Alibaba co-founder and chairman: $39.9 billion;
4. Wang Jianlin, chairman of real estate developer and entertainment giant Dalian Wanda: $25.1 billion;
5. Wang Wei, chairman of SF Holding, aka the "Fedex of China": $21.1 billion

Jack Ma may be having the most fun. He stars in a new short film about a Tai Chi master – himself.

Sens. Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, have written to Jared Kushner noting that he received emails last September about a "Russia backdoor overture and dinner invite" and about Wikileaks, and failed to disclose them to the committee, Politico reports.

Why it matters: Kushner has a history of not disclosing information and filling out forms incorrectly. Grassley and Feinstein wrote, "If, as you suggest, Mr. Kushner was unaware of, for example, any attempts at Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, then presumably there would be few communications concerning many of the persons identified."

After meeting in the U.K. with British business leaders, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein tweeted that many of them want to hold a "confirming" vote on Brexit – perhaps believing that popular sentiment has changed since last year's seminal decision.

Here in UK, lots of hand-wringing from CEOs over #Brexit. Better sense of the tough and risky road ahead. Reluctant to say, but many wish for a confirming vote on a decision so monumental and irreversible. So much at stake, why not make sure consensus still there? — Lloyd Blankfein (@lloydblankfein) November 16, 2017

Reality check: There is no strong political movement right now for such a vote.

The Saudi foreign minister has branded accusations that Saudi Arabia is detaining Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri as "rejected and baseless" and added that Hezbollah should "respect Lebanon's sovereignty," per the AP. Hariri unexpectedly resigned while in Riyadh nearly two weeks ago.

What's happening: The denial comes one day after Lebanese President Michel Aoun publicly accused Saudi Arabia of detaining Hariri — and just minutes after Hariri accepted an invitation to visit France from Emmanuel Macron. The ever-murkier situation is a part of a deepening shadow power struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran for proxy control over the Middle East.