Note to Trump: The Mueller Probe Costs Roughly $0.00 - Not $40 Million
By Eric Levitz @EricLevitz
Shortly after waking Thursday morning, the president of the United States announced that a high-profile federal investigation was actually illegal and exorbitantly expensive.
There are a few reasons to treat Donald Trumps estimation of the Mueller probes cost with skepticism. For one thing, the president appears to have some doubts about it himself ostensibly, his own first reaction upon typing the number was to question whether such outlandish spending was even possible. For another, just 48 hours ago, Trump referred to the Mueller investigation as the
now $30,000,000 Witch Hunt. Now, perhaps Robert Mueller decided Wednesday that his team needed
a Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta in order to chase down Roger Stone. But it seems more likely that the president is picking large numbers out of thin air, in a bid to discredit the investigation into his campaigns alleged ties to Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Another point in favor of theory No. 2: As of September, the fiscal cost of the Mueller investigation
was roughly $0.00. By that point, the probe had spent roughly $26 million. But, by striking a plea agreement with Paul Manafort for his myriad white-collar crimes an agreement that required Trumps former campaign manager to forfeit five multi-million-dollar properties, a life-insurance policy, and the contents of multiple bank accounts Muellers investigation had acquired somewhere between
$26 million and $42 million worth of revenue for the federal treasury.
The Mueller probes (apparent) profitability is indicative of more than just Donald Trumps mendacity: It also reflects the fact that there are few forms of law enforcement more cost-efficient than cracking down on super-rich tax cheats and money launderers. And yet, for
some strange reason, the federal law enforcement
has not made punishing the financial malfeasance of the super-rich a top-tier priority.
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http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/11/trump-tweet-mueller-probe-usd40-million-fact-check-paul-manafort.html