REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating a $150,000 donation to the Trump Foundation made by a “Ukrainian steel magnate” during the campaign in exchange for a conference talk, The New York Times reports. The probe appears to be part of Mueller’s investigation into foreign funds to the president and his associates leading up to the 2016 election. The Daily Beast reported that Victor Pinchuk’s September 2015 donation was made “in conjunction with a short video Trump made for the Yalta European Strategy annual meeting” in that same month. The donation amounted to “20 percent of the foundation’s total donations during that time.” The Times reports that Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen “solicited the donation.” This comes after President Trump claimed that the special counsel’s investigation was a “total witch hunt” after Cohen was raided by the FBI for materials reportedly connected to the $130,000 payout he made to porn star Stormy Daniels.