The investigation of the alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election in the period between May and September cost the federal government about seven million dollars. According to the Justice Department, special counsel Robert Miller has in that period spent 3.2 million dollars, while law enforcement personnel working on the investigation but do not report to the counsel spent another 3.5 million dollars, CNN reports.
The equipment for Mueller costs 734,000 dollars. That equipment will stay in the Justice Department after the investigation is finished. Meanwhile, the relocation of the special counsel’s office cost 220,000 dollars.
The funding comes from a permanent, indefinite appropriation for independent counsels to do their work, that means that it cannot be touched by Congress, the budget overview says. More than one million dollars were spent on employees on detail and 500,700 dollars were spent on employees hired by the special counsel from organizations out of the Justice Department, among which is Mueller himself.
Four persons have so far been charged by Mueller. Those persons are former campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, his deputy Rick Gates and former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Mueller’s investigation has been focused on potential collusion between Trump campaign and Russia, but obstruction of justice by Trump has also been the focus.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein thinks that the money has been well spent and fully supports Mueller.
“Special Counsel Mueller has spent $3.2 million on the first five months of his investigation, a figure that is entirely reasonable given the results we’ve already seen. With two individuals having entered guilty pleas and two more facing federal charges, it’s clear the investigation is moving forward. I continue to strongly support Bob Mueller’s investigation and believe he should receive all the resources he needs to follow the facts and the law where they lead,” she said in a statement.
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