not only between manafort, gates and the ollie daigarchs but now mueller looking at the oligarchs directly and interviewing them in an effort to understand what happened. so it is a widening net for mueller and a tightening noose for manafort. reporter: manafort has pleaded not guilty to criminal indictments in virginia and washington, d.c. stemming from the mueller probe. and now cnn has learned that mueller s team is using information obtained during the manafort investigation to continue to look for alleged criminal activity. in fact, prosecutors revealed that they have a search warrant that gave them access to five at&t phone numbers and that warrant is somehow related to paul manafort. that was jessica schneider reporting for us. more now on the mueller investigation. cnn has learned exclusively attorneys for the u.s. president have started preparing him for a possible interview with the special counsel. a white house official and person familiar with the
there may have been back channels used by oligarchs to fund the trump campaign and perhaps the inauguration as well. reporter: cnn reported that mueller has pinpointed at least three russian oligarchs whose identity was unknown. one was stopped when his private plane stopped in the new york city area and agents searched their electronics. now mueller is looking at the oligarchs directly and interviewing them in an effort to understand from their point of view what happened here. so it s a widening net for mueller and a tightening noose for manafort. reporter: manafort has pleaded not guilty to criminal indictments in virginia and washington, d.c. stemming from the mueller probe. now cnn learned mueller is using information obtained during the
was trying to brief him on what was going on the trump campaign there is thought, though not proven yet, there may have been back channels used by oligarchs to fund the trump campaign, and perhaps the inauguration as well. that s what we see in mueller s efforts to speak to these people as they arrive in the united states. we have reporting that mueller has spoken to three of them, one with a warrant to seize their telephone, to acquire electronic data. so there is a clear connection not only between manafort, gates and the oligarchs, but now mueller looking at the oligarchs directly and interviewing them in an effort to understand from their point of view what happened here. so it is a widening net for mueller and a tightening noose for manafort to work out an agreement with mueller to cooperate and provide the information that mueller seems very much to want. michael zeldin, appreciate it as always. thank you. of course, all of this