Manafort ska ha pressats av ryssar under valkampanj

The ongoing Special Counsel investigation is a United States law enforcement and counterintelligence investigation of the Russian government's efforts to interfere, with primary focus on the 2016 presidential election. This investigation includes any possible links or coordination between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the Russian government, "and any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation." In addition, the scope of the investigation reportedly includes potential obstruction of justice by Trump and others. The investigation, since it began May 17, 2017, has been conducted by the United States Department of Justice Special Counsel's Office, headed by Robert Mueller, a Republican and former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). As part of his investigation, Mueller also took over several existing FBI investigations, including those involving former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.The investigation has resulted in dozens of indictments for federal crimes, and at least eight guilty pleas or convictions. In August 2018, Manafort was found guilty on eight felony counts of financial crimes in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and a month later he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruct justice, in a plea bargain for Manafort's full cooperation with prosecutors. The investigation also led to Flynn pleading guilty to making false statements to the FBI, and as part of a plea deal in December 2017, he is required to be a cooperating witness in the investigations. Mueller further secured guilty pleas from Manafort's business partner Rick Gates, Dutch attorney Alex van der Zwaan, former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, lobbyist W. Samuel Patten, and Richard Pinedo. All except Van der Zwaan have become cooperating witnesses for investigators. In February 2018, Mueller indicted 13 Russian citizens and three Russian entities, most notably the Internet Research Agency, and in June 2018 added an indictment of Konstantin Kilimnik, Manafort's business partner. In July 2018, 12 members of the Russian GRU cyber espionage group known as Fancy Bear, responsible for the 2016 DNC email hacking, were indicted. Investigations into Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen were referred to the US Attorney's office of the Southern District of New York.While initially enjoying bipartisan support, the special counsel investigation became subject to criticism by Trump and his supporters. Several allegations of investigators' misconduct have been raised and were almost immediately debunked, including supposed unlawful wire-tapping of Trump Tower during the campaign, unmasking of Trump associates on intelligence intercepts, FISA court alleged abuse against Carter Page detailed in the Nunes memo, the alleged installation of a mole in the Trump campaign, and the FBI being denied access to forensically analyze the DNC servers. Trump and his supporters criticized the cost of the investigation, but by December 2018, the investigation had cost approximately $25 million while gaining approximately $48 million. Some of the taxpayer cost was recouped by fine penalties.