In the summer of 2017, as special counsel Robert Mueller was starting his investigation, his agents and prosecutors were chasing potentially explosive allegations about foreign influence over Donald Trump and his campaign.
CIA intelligence relayed to the special counsel’s office suggested that senior leaders of a foreign adversary had signed off on secretly funneling millions of dollars — with the help of a Trump campaign adviser acting as "a bag man” — to Trump in the final days of the 2016 election.
Interviews and other evidence obtained by the special counsel’s office showed that indeed Trump had lent his campaign a similar amount of money in the final days of the race — and, after beating Hillary Clinton, Trump immediately struck a far more favorable tone toward the country than his predecessors.