Mueller is tapping FBI agents and federal prosecutors to help with his growing Trump-Russia investigation

Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his helpers

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 5 July 2018

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is facing political pressure from President Trump and his allies to wrap up his year-old investigation of Trump's campaign and Russian election interference, and he and "his team of 17 federal prosecutors are coping with a higher-than-expected volume of court challenges that has added complexity in recent months," Bloomberg News reports. But Mueller's not slowing down, he's expanding the investigation — and outsourcing.

"As Mueller pursues his probe, he's making more use of career prosecutors from the offices of U.S. attorneys and from Justice Department headquarters, as well as FBI agents — a sign that he may be laying the groundwork to hand off parts of his investigation eventually," Bloomberg reports, citing several current and former U.S. officials. "There's no political appetite at this time to increase the size of his staff," but he has called in help from investigators in New York, Pittsburgh, and Alexandria, Virginia, and he has shown a willingness to spin off parts of his investigation, as he did with former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's case in Manhattan.

The most pressing legal challenge is from Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, but Russia's Internet Research Agency and a former aide to Trump confidante Roger Stone are also fighting Mueller's team in court. "I don't think he's getting in over his head," Solomon Wisenberg, a deputy independent counsel investigating President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, tells Bloomberg "These things have a tendency to balloon. Yes, it may be taxing on them. No, it's not that unusual." You can read more at Bloomberg News.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.