A new report from ABC News says that Blackwater founder and President Trump ally Erik Prince provided the Special Counsel with all of his computers and phones. Erik Prince is a major player in the Russia investigation, since it was revealed that he attended a meeting in the Seychelles with a Russian hedge fund manager. The Special Counsel believes the goal of the meeting was to establish a back channel between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials.
According to The Daily Beast, two colleagues of Prince were also contacted by investigators about a deal Prince made with Russian nationals at his Hong Kong company, yet it is unclear if the two are cooperating with the Special Counsel.
It is worth nothing that Erik Prince is the brother of current Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
What Robert Mueller is after
Robert Mueller was appointed by assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to investigate the possibility that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to win the 2016 election. Mueller will search through Prince's electronics to look for damaging information, such as dark money deals and meetings not mentioned in Prince's testimony to Congress. The Special Counsel will also search for any deals Prince made with Trump and his campaign.
So far, four former Trump advisors and 14 Russian nationals have been indicted or pleaded guilty. Former Trump campaign head Paul Manafort was indicted in 2017 on charges unrelated to the investigation, though the Special Counsel is looking into if President Trump was involved with any of Manafort's financial deals.
Manafort currently sits in jail awaiting trial on a host of charges, including money laundering, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice.
The pressure is on
President Trump recently stepped up his Twitter attacks on Robert Mueller, and with the news that Erik Prince handed over his communications, expect those attacks to be more frequent.
Republicans in Congress have asked for the Special Counsel to be shut down, while the Democrats have put forth bill after bill in the House and Senate that would protect the Special Counsel from being fired by President Trump. The president said he is willing to meet with Mueller for an interview, yet his Twitter rants say otherwise.
