Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference cost nearly $32 million, according to a new report released by the Justice Department and cited by CNN. That sum reportedly includes about $16 million spent directly by Mueller’s office as well as spending by parts of the Justice Department not under the special counsel’s direct control.
But as previous analyses have suggested — and Democrats have pointed out — the investigation may have yielded positive financial results for the government, beyond the indictments and convictions it generated.
“You secured the convictions of President Trump’s campaign chairman, his deputy campaign manager, his national security advisor, and his personal lawyer, among others,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said before Mueller’s congressional testimony last week. “In the Paul Manafort case alone, you recovered as much as $42 million, so that the cost of your investigation to the taxpayers approaches zero.”
