Risk-off is elevated: Mueller has subpoenaed the Trump Organization

US benchmarks are on the backfoot and risk-off is elevated on the back of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who has subpoenaed the Trump Organization to turn over documents, including some related to Russia, according to two people briefed on the matter as reported in the Washington Post wit keynotes from the article highlighted as follows:

• The order is the first known time that the special counsel demanded documents directly related to President Trump’s businesses, bringing the investigation closer to the president.
• Mr. Mueller ordered the Trump Organization to hand over all documents related to Russia and other topics he is investigating.
• The subpoena will drag on for at least several more months.
• Mr. Mueller appears to be broadening his investigation to examine the role foreign money may have played in funding Mr. Trump’s political activities.
• Mr. Mueller’s investigators have questioned witnesses, including an adviser to the United Arab Emirates, about the flow of Emirati money into the United States.
• The Trump Organization has typically complied with requests from congressional investigators for documents for their own inquiries into Russian election interference.
• No indication the company planned to fight Mr. Mueller about it.
• The Trump Organization has said that it never had real estate holdings in Russia, but witnesses recently interviewed by Mr. Mueller have been asked about a possible real estate deal in Moscow.
• In 2015, a longtime business associate of Mr. Trump’s emailed Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, at his Trump Organization account claiming he had ties to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and said that building a Trump Tower in Moscow would help Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign.