How Much Money Did Mueller Investigation Cost

Mandatory Credit: Photo by AP/REX/Shutterstock (8874976b)Special Counsel Robert Mueller departs after a closed-door meeting with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee about Russian meddling in the election and possible connection to the Trump campaign, at the Capitol in WashingtonCongress Russia Probe, Washington, USA - 21 Jun 2017. — Mandatory Credit: Photo by AP/King/Shutterstock (8874976b)Special Counsel Robert Mueller departs after a closed-door meeting with members of the Senate Judiciary Commission about Russian meddling in the election and possible connection to the Trump campaign, at the Capitol in WashingtonCongress Russia Probe, Washington, USA - 21 Jun 2017.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's report into ties betwixt President Donald Trump's campaign and Russian agents was released to the public on April 18.
Mueller's investigation has cost millions of dollars.
But previous regime investigations have been far costlier .

In May 2017, special counsel Robert S. Mueller Three was appointed to launch a probe into charges of collusion between President Donald Trump'southward entrada and Russian contacts. Nearly 2 years later on, Mueller formally announced the investigation'due south closing on March 22. The results: No bunco with Russian federation. Mueller's report was released to the public on April eighteen.

Throughout the investigation, Trump frequently complained about the exorbitant price of the proceedings. Now that it's finally over, notice out what the investigation has unearthed and the cost of the administration'southward deportment.

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How Much Mueller's Investigation Has Toll: More than $25M

Afterward 16 months of investigation, the toll had ballooned to $25 meg, CNBC reported. Based on those figures, that works out to approximately $1.5 million spent per month. And that's simply working from September 2018, the xvi-calendar month mark. The cost has very likely gone up since then. If the $i.5 1000000 figure remains static, taxpayers take paid another $vii.5 million between October 2018 and February 2019.

In Mueller'south latest filing, released in September 2018, he reported "spending about $iii one thousand thousand on compensation, $580,000 on travel and transportation, $1 1000000 on hire and related expenses, and $300,000 on contractual services, primarily related to IT," according to CNBC.

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The good news is, for this multimillion-dollar price tag, Mueller'due south investigation has produced real results. Dozens of people, and three companies, take been charged, resulting in v people pleading guilty to diverse charges. These include Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates and former campaign strange policy adviser George Papadopoulos. Another superlative official in Trump's presidential campaign, Roger Rock, was recently indicted for charges related to hacked emails of Hillary Clinton — unrelated, but not dissimilar to the cover-ups and deceit found in Mueller'south investigation.

The Trump administration's main defense tactic confronting the investigation was to call out the supposedly exorbitant cost of the investigation. Trump took on the result of costs through a message on Twitter:

….At what signal does this presently to exist $20,000,000 Witch Hunt, composed of 13 Angry and Heavily Conflicted Democrats and 2 people who take worked for Obama for 8 years, Cease! They take found no Collussion with Russian federation, No Obstruction, just they aren't looking at the corruption…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2018

However, there are several problems with this defense.

Showtime off, with Paul Manafort pleading guilty dorsum in September 2018, Trump'south one-time campaign managing director agreed to hand over existent estate and cash estimated to be worth between $42 million and $46 one thousand thousand, well over three times the $16.7 meg cost of the investigation. Although supporters of the investigation think these seized assets should be used to pay for the investigation, the Justice Department denied this would happen. Instead, the typical action is for the federal regime to auction off the forfeited items, according to CNBC.

And a second issue with the Trump assistants'due south statement is that past special counsel investigations — including those instigated by Republicans against Democrats — take been much more expensive.

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How Much Past Regime Investigations Have Cost

Back in the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan, the U.Due south. became embroiled in 1 of the most infamous international fiascos in modern history: the Iran-Contra Affair. In a complex deal, Americans were selling arms to Iranians both in hopes of improving relations and to secure the release of hostages held by Iranian terrorists in Lebanese republic. The profits from these artillery sales were then diverted to the Nicaraguan Contras, an anti-communist guerrilla force that the U.Due south. supported.

Long story brusk, the whole episode blew up in the administration's face equally more information was leaked and published. Soon, a special prosecutor, Lawrence Due east. Walsh, was appointed to investigate the Reagan assistants and its officials for its involvement, running up $47.iv million in costs over the course of eight years. Similarly, during the 1990s, one-time independent counsel Kenneth Due west. Starr investigated President Nib Clinton and his administration on various matters, coming in with a final toll tag of more than $52 million, and that'due south non including v additional independent counsels that have tacked on some other $100 meg in investigation costs.

So, in reality, despite Trump's complaints on Twitter, Mueller'due south investigation is cheap, past comparison, and barely a brunt on American taxpayers.

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