10 things you need to know today: December 18, 2018

Reports say Russian disinformation teams targeted Mueller, Comey says Republicans are paralyzed by fear of "mean tweets," and more

1. Mueller was the target of Russian disinformation teams

Special Counsel Robert Mueller became a target of Russian disinformation teams not long after he was appointed in May 2017 to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign, according to two reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee that were released Monday. One of the posts, on Instagram, accused Mueller of having once worked with "radical Islamic groups." Clemson University researchers found in a separate report that Russians posted false claims about Mueller on several social media platforms, tweeting about him more than 5,000 times. The Russians called the investigation "fake" and said Mueller should be fired. The two reports released Monday showed that Russian disinformation campaigns to help get President Trump elected started earlier and lasted longer than previously thought.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.