JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/ROBERT MUELLER/RUDY GIULIANI/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The special counsel investigation into Russian election interference and any coordination with President Donald Trump’s campaign has cost more than $16 million so far. That’s according to a financial report released Thursday [5-31-18] by the Justice Department. The investigation led by former FBI Director Robert Mueller accounted for nearly $10 million between October and March. That’s on top of the $6.7 million spent on the probe the previous four months. The Justice Department says a large portion of the costs, about $9 million, would have been spent regardless of the special counsel’s appointment. The release of the report comes as Trump has repeatedly lashed out at the investigation as a ‘witch hunt’ and called for it to be wrapped up soon. 9:12 a.m. Republicans are distancing themselves from Rudy Giuliani’s description of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators as a ‘lynching mob.’ Utah GOP Sen. Mike Lee says he’s not going to defend Giuliani ‘because those aren’t words that I would use. That’s pretty strong language.’”
-AP Staff, “The Latest: Russia investigation’s costs hit $16 million,” The Associated Press, May 31, 2018 1:35 pm