2016 ELECTION/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “A Trump campaign adviser was in touch in the weeks before the 2016 election with a person he said was a Russian former spy, a lawyer who worked with both men told special counsel Robert Mueller’s office. Richard Gates, the campaign adviser, told London-based lawyer Alex van der Zwaan that his longtime business associate in Ukraine was a ‘former Russian intelligence officer,’ with the GRU, Russia’s military-intelligence agency, prosecutors on Mr. Mueller’s team wrote in a memo filed in federal court late Tuesday [3-27-18]. The three men communicated in September and October 2016, when Mr. Gates worked with Donald Trump’s campaign, according to the prosecutors’ document. Mr. van der Zwaan has admitted he hid from prosecutors the fact that the three men were in touch that recently. The conversations among the men concerned the potential criminal prosecution in Ukraine of Mr. van der Zwaan and others, according to court documents. The disclosure helps connect the dots between the cases against Mr. Gates and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Mr. Mueller’s inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.”
-Aruna Viswanatha, Robert Mueller Links Trump Campaign Aide With Russian Ex-Spy, The Wall Street Journal online, Mar. 28, 2018, 1:50pm