Special counsel Robert Mueller has issued subpoenas to Podesta Group and Mercury LLC regarding their support of a campaign run by former Trump advisor Paul Manafort in support of a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine, according to news reports.
Manafort, who was Trump's campaign manager, received $17M in consulting fees during 2013 and 2014 from an outfit called European Center for a Modern Ukraine for supporting Ukraine’s entry into the European Union.
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The Center provided political backing for then-Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in 2014 during an uprising.
Podesta and Mercury failed to initially register their work in support of Manafort’s effort, but both have filed retroactively.
Mueller’s PR subpoenas are part of the overall probe of Russia’s meddling in the presidential election.
With Donald Trump Jr, and Jared Kushner, Manfort attended the Trump Tower meeting in 2016 with a Russian lobbyist and lawyer.
The Washington Post also reported that Mueller sent a subpoenas to SGR LLC, which worked with ex-Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Erik Hotmire has rejoined the Securities and Exchange Commission as chief external affairs officer and director of the Office of Public Affairs.
California seeks a firm to handle a $3.5M marketing/ad program to promote awareness of, and increase sign-ups in, its job corps program. 
The National Highway Safety Administration has awarded its public education to Stratacomm following a competitive re-compete process.
Congress wants the FTC to probe whether TikTok violated child privacy laws when it launched a last-ditch lobbying blitz to defeat the bill requiring its owner, ByteDance, to divest it.
Jeffrey Nesbit, who served as communications director for former vice president Dan Quayle, is named assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services.
