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.