Donald Trump’s campaign now finds itself in an email scandal of its own as special counsel Robert Mueller is seeking documents from a data firm hired by the Trump team during last year’s presidential election.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Mueller “has requested that Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that worked for President Donald Trump’s campaign, turn over documents as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, according to people familiar with the matter.”
Unlike the non-scandal surrounding Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email account that defined last year’s campaign coverage, this one could actually uncover a smoking gun.
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Mr. Mueller asked the firm in the fall to turn over the emails of any Cambridge Analytica employees who worked on the Trump campaign, in a sign that the special counsel is probing the Trump campaign’s data operation.
The special counsel’s request, which the firm complied with, wasn’t previously known. The emails had earlier been turned over to the House Intelligence Committee, the people said, adding that both requests were voluntary.
On Thursday, Cambridge Analytica Chief Executive Alexander Nix interviewed via videoconference with the House Intelligence Committee, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The news that Mueller is digging into Trump campaign emails comes weeks after it was reported that Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix tried to team up with Julian Assange last year in an effort to derail Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
As the Daily Beast reported in October, “Nix, who heads Cambridge Analytica, told a third party that he reached out to Assange about his firm somehow helping the WikiLeaks editor release Clinton’s missing emails.”
The Wall Street Journal added in Thursday’s report: “Two months after Mr. Nix directed his speaker’s bureau to contact Mr. Assange, top Trump donor Rebekah Mercer asked him whether Cambridge Analytica could help better organize the emails WikiLeaks was releasing, the Journal has reported.”
In other words, the Trump campaign’s data firm was actively seeking to work with WikiLeaks – essentially a Russian propaganda outfit – to hurt Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and help Donald Trump’s.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s request to see emails connected to Trump-hired Cambridge Analytica could show just how widespread the effort was to work with Russia-connected WikiLeaks and would most certainly destroy whatever is left of the president’s argument that there was “no collusion.”
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
