New York Daily News – by Christopher Brennan
The Special Counsel’s probe into Russian election meddling now includes the Democratic-learning Podesta Group, according to a report.
Robert Mueller is looking into the group headed by Tony Podesta, the brother of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, over its dealings with a Ukrainian government-linked firm, NBC reported Monday.
Mueller is tasked with investigating alleged Moscow interference in the election in favor of Trump, though one of his lines of inquiry has centered on the President’s one-time campaign chair Paul Manafort and his work in Russia’s neighbor Ukraine.
Part of Manafort’s efforts for the pro-Kremlin Party of the Regions, whose president Viktor Yanukovych later left the country in chaos when he fled during an uprising, included work with the Brussels-based European Center for a Modern Ukraine.
The group said it advocated for closer EU-Ukraine relations, though it has come under scrutiny after allegations that it was working in the U.S. to promote Yanukovych, who ended up abandoning a proposed deal with Europe in favor of moving closer to Vladimir Putin.
In September, reports said that the Podesta Group, as well as consulting firm Mercury LLC, had been subpoenaed by Mueller over contracts with the European Center.
The prosecutor is now reportedly conducting a criminal inquiry into Tony Podesta and his group for failure to register as a foreign agent, which is compulsory when lobbying American lawmakers for another country.
Criminal prosecutions under the foreign agent law are rare, but can lead to up to five years in prison.
The Podesta Group belatedly filed foreign agent paperwork this spring, followed by Manafort this summer.
Records at opensecrets.org show that the lobbying group also received $90,000 from Uranium One, a company that controls U.S. uranium interests. The company’s sale to Russia has drawn scrutiny because of Russian interests donating to the Clinton Foundation.
John Podesta, whose hacked emails were released via Wikileaks as part of the alleged Kremlin campaign to tilt the election towards Trump, does not currently work with the Podesta Group.
Manafort left the Trump campaign last August after reports about his payments from the European Center, though he has denied any wrongdoing.
He has, however, become a center of the Mueller investigation, which raided his Virginia home in July and has reportedly told him that he will be indicted.