The Justice Department on Tuesday released special counsel Robert Mueller's financial disclosure, revealing that, since the beginning of 2016, he made almost $3.5 million at a law firm before taking his new job to head the Russia investigation.
Mueller, a former FBI director, accepted the role of special counsel in May, giving up his law firm partnership, Politico reported. He was hired as special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and potential collusion between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia in that effort.
Mueller had to disclose his finances and reveal any ties to foreign countries as part of his new role. His financial disclosure revealed he made almost $3.5 million since the beginning of last year. The assets between Mueller and his wife are valued at somewhere between $4.2 million and $15.2 million.
The financial disclosure also lists Mueller's notable clients from his former firm,WilmerHale. His clients included business giants like Facebook, Apple, Intel, Sony Pictures, the National Football League, and Booze Allen Hamilton.
Mueller's legal work for social media sites and Google is notable because they may help provide valuable data for his current investigation, according to Politico.
Tech industry experts say Facebook and other companies, including Twitter and Google, could help Mueller establish whether there was any coordination or collusion between the Trump campaign officials who had access to critical voter data files — pinpointing key battleground counties and states, and key demographic groups inside them — and the alleged Russian government social media accounts that were pumping out pro-Trump and anti-Hillary Clinton messages at peak moments of the campaign.
Direct-messaging features on Facebook and Twitter may also be of interest to Muller. Political operatives have been known to use Twitter handles to communicate information to each other.
Congressional Democrats have been asking Facebook for answers about the probe into the Russian scandal, but it is unclear whether Mueller has contacted Facebook during his investigation.