U.S. media are reporting that two top former aides of U.S. President Donald Trump are being investigated for Russia connections by a U.S. special prosecutor.
NBC News reported on August 25 that Special Counsel Robert Mueller issued subpoenas seeking grand jury testimony from executives who worked with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on a U.S. public relations campaign for the former pro-Russian president of Ukraine between 2012 and 2014.
NBC quoted one of the subpoenaed executives as saying that investigators are "trying to figure out" if the lobbying campaign on behalf of Viktor Yanukovych's pro-Russian party was "a legitimate project."
Manafort, whose apartment was reportedly raided by FBI agents last month, has emerged as a key figure in the investigation.
Participants said he was present at a June 2016 meeting during which Trump's oldest son met with a Russian lawyer who e-mails show had claimed to have damaging information about Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Also on August 25, The Wall Street Journal reported that Mueller's investigators were looking into whether Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, took part in efforts to obtain Clinton e-mails from Russian hackers during the campaign last year.
