JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA: “The federal government spent nearly $7 million investigating Russian meddling in the presidential election between May and September, the Justice Department announced Tuesday [12-5-17].
Special counsel Robert Mueller spent $3.2 million over that time.
Another $3.5 million has separately been spent by law enforcement personnel working on the investigation but who do not directly report to Mueller, DOJ said.
Mueller was appointed in May to lead the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
The special counsel’s budget includes some one-time costs, such as $734,000 for equipment that the Justice Department will keep once the investigation ends, the statement of expenditures said. Another $220,000 helped the special counsel’s office employees relocate to work with Mueller.
The budget overview notes that its funding comes from a ‘permanent, indefinite’ appropriation for independent counsels to do their work, meaning if cannot be touched by Congress. Some of the costs in the budget are for expenses the Justice Department would have already spent on other teams, such as for employees on detail to Mueller from other DOJ divisions. More than $1 million went to employees on detail.”
-Laura Jarrett, Katelyn Polantz, an Daniella Diaz, “Russia probe cost $7 million over 5 months, DOJ says,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Dec. 5, 2017 01:02pm