The retreat to the #TrumpRussia bunker continues and the mashed potatoes are not yet ready. The money path or all those emails in Mueller’s possession could confirm the interoperability between the Trump campaign and the various Russian troll operations. More interesting could be the synchrony of ad buys and swing state targeting in 2016. But as always, in Biglygate, it’s more likely to be a smoldering arsenal than a smoking gun.
Mueller’s team is trying to determine if members of the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee, who worked together on the digital arm of Trump’s campaign, provided assistance to Russian trolls attempting to influence voters. It’s the latest scare for Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, who managed the digital campaign and has already come under scrutiny by the special counsel for his foreign contacts.
Mueller’s move appears to concern the disproportionate targeting of swing districts by Russian trolls during the presidential campaign. CNN reported in October that ads placed by Russia-linked Facebook accounts targeted Michigan and Wisconsin in particular, with many “geared at swaying public opinion in the most heavily contested battlegrounds.”
Experts don’t think the trolls behind Russian Facebook accounts could have determined who to target on their own, but the question is whether the help they got came from Trump’s orbit. The leading suspects at this point are Kushner and Brad Parscale, the campaign’s digital media director.
<div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="
Mueller Probing Whether Trump Team Aided Russian Trolls https://t.co/nWs2vfob8k via @intelligencer
— Cheri Jacobus (@CheriJacobus) December 30, 2017
“>
Mueller Probing Whether Trump Team Aided Russian Trolls https://t.co/nWs2vfob8k via @intelligencer
â Cheri Jacobus (@CheriJacobus) December 30, 2017