associated with russiandis information campaigns. reporter: jonathan morgan is the ceo of new moj, a company of national security and digital media experts who monitor the internet looking for things like suspicious hash tags to help online communities defend themselves from outside manipulation. his team saw that release the memo picked up so much momentum it began capturing the attention of major media organizations in part because of bots or automated accounts. i would go so far as to say release the memo hash tag was more important than the memo itself in creating this air of suspicion around the xhuler investigation and that s the goal of this type of attack is to create the idea something might be wrong to give people impression where there s smoke there s probably fire. reporter: now with the memo old news researchers say russian-backed accounts are on the prowl. searching for the next hash tag to manipulate and there are two main targets. first president trump and the whi
times, he made reference to the word collusion 16 different times, even suggesting that one time it may have been the democrats who were colluding with russia, but there s some suggestion ironically that collusion isn t a charge the president could face if the mueller investigation goes in that direction. what are some of the charges the president could actually face? he could face obstruction of justice. collusion isn t you re correct. collusion is not a criminal indictment term but he could face obstruction of justice. he could face all kinds of campaign finance violations. but the biggest issue would be for him is if if he faced impeachment for an abuse of power. that s really what we re talking about. the investigation and the the new york times work yesterday in the interview when he said he had the absolute right to do whatever he wanted is what everybody s concerned about right now. he could easily fire mueller. he could go through the process of firing rosenstein and f
midnight sky got illuminated to welcome 2018. here in the united states the fbi s russia investigation continues into the new year with a new the new york times report saying that the investigation started with an intelligence tip from australia have former trump campaign advise george papadopoulos reportedly got drunk with an australian diplomat and bragged about russia s thousands of stolen e-mails that have offered up as dirt against hillary clinton. that report contradicts statements by trump and his gop allies suggest thagt probe is based on a controversy opposition research dossier. four former campaign officials were charged in 2017 in the russia robe so what can we expect from special counsel robert mueller in the year ahead. there s a lot the we still don t know about possible russia interference in the 2016 election. joining me now is our panel.
coming up, the very latest in the russia investigation as well as we look ahead to where special counsel robert mueller may take the investigation in 2018. the gop ramping up its attacks against him. stay with us. (chris) the very first time i met bruce i saw on his lapel he s got a purple heart. (bruce) we started talking about the service. i outrank him. (chris) [laughs] yeah. meals on wheels reaches so many people. it s impactful beyond anything i ve ever done in my life. (bruce) the meals and his friendship really mean, means a lot to me. (vo) through the subaru share the love event, we ve helped deliver over one-point- seven million meals to those in need. get zero percent financing for 63 months on select models, plus we ll donate two hundred and fifty dollars to charity. us.
element for a year and a half, more or less, how much classified intelligence do you think is under wraps in the russia investigation and how much is actually coming from allied nations you think? so australia s part of what s called the five is. they share all intelligence with each other. we share common adversaries, values and goals so australia s one of those. you ve got an iceberg that you re looking at. you can see the visible part on what we know on the huler investigation but beneath the surface say large component of classified intelligence likely being shared amongst the five i nations which means the leaders of those nations including australia know and are briefed on what we know about the russian link to our election and really are privy to more information than president trump is being permitted to see because of his role in the investigation, but the latest the new york times report is really a reminder what the mueller inquiries is all about.