Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III spent $3.2 million in the first 4½ months of his investigation into whether anyone from President Donald Trump’s team helped Russian interference with last year’s presidential campaign.
The spending was summarized in a report released Tuesday, the first of what Mueller’s office said will be twice-a-year updates.
The single biggest cost was $1.7 million for salaries and benefits, including $500,000 for special counsel employees and $1.2 million for Department of Justice staff working under Mueller.
Another $733,969 was spent on equipment, but the report does not provide details.
Mueller was appointed in May after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, who had been leading the investigation. He has announced criminal charges against four people so far, including Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat and the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called Mueller’s spending “entirely reasonable given the results we’ve already seen.”
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