Trump Cards: who’s who in the Mueller investigation – all you need to know
1 May 2018An enormous cast of people have been linked to the Trump/Russia story. These are the names you need to know, as the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller picks up pace.
Donald Trump was elected 45th President of the United States in November 2016, after winning more electoral college votes than the favourite, Hillary Clinton.
Four months before the vote, the FBI had launched an investigation into possible links between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.
But the new president sacked the FBI’s director James Comey in May 2017, before the investigation was complete.
Then, around a week later, the US Department of Justice appointed Robert Mueller as Special Counsel and tasked him with investigating “any links and/or co-ordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump”.
The stakes are high: veterans of Watergate, which brought down Richard Nixon, say collusion with Russia, if proven, would be an even bigger scandal.
An enormous cast of people have been linked to the Trump/Russia story. These are the names you need to know.
General Michael Flynn
According to court documents, Kislyak contacted Flynn on December 28, 2016. Barack Obama was still president and had just ordered sanctions against Russia for interfering with the election.
Flynn was in communication between the Russian embassy and members of the Trump transition team. After consulting with Trump’s team, he asked the Russians not to escalate tensions ahead of the presidential handover. Soon afterwards, Moscow announced it would not retaliate against Obama’s sanctions.
When questioned by the FBI, Flynn lied about the nature of his conversations with Kislyak. He later pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements and agreed to co-operate with the Mueller investigation.
