GOP failed to heed the old warning: be careful you don't get caught in your own net

I may have just made up that "old warning", but it still would have been a good warning.

They thought making searches at the border legal without warrant was a way to to get around privacy rights and civil liberties.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's team has taken the unusual step of questioning Russian oligarchs who traveled into the US, stopping at least one and searching his electronic devices when his private jet landed at a New York area airport, according to multiple sources familiar with the inquiry.

A second Russian oligarch was stopped during a recent trip to the US, although it is not clear if he was searched, according to a person briefed on the matter.

  CNN

Hopefully (but unfortunately not certainly) Democrats learned their lesson on this when they gave broad executive powers to Obama, assuming Hillary would succeed him.

Investigators' interest in Russian oligarchs has not been previously reported.

It hasn't? Did I just assume they were interested in Russian oligarchs because, aside from having relationships with Trump, they are often tied to both Russian mobsters and the Kremlin?

The sources did not share the names of the oligarchs but did describe the details of their interactions with the special counsel's team.

One area under scrutiny, sources say, is investments Russians made in companies or think tanks that have political action committees that donated to the campaign.

Another theory Mueller's office is pursuing, sources said, is whether wealthy Russians used straw donors -- Americans with citizenship -- as a vessel through which they could pump money into the campaign and inauguration fund.

Such as the NRA. Does that fall under money laundering laws, or is that a separate law?

In January, FBI agents stopped and questioned George Nader, a Middle East specialist, when he arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport. They imaged his electronic devices and subpoenaed him for testimony. Nader, who attended secret meetings during the transition between the United Arab Emirates and Trump associates, is cooperating with the investigation. Nader was in the Seychelles when Trump supporter Erik Prince met with Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive of the state-run Russian Direct Investment Fund.

[...]

Another source added that Mueller's investigators have asked about a handful of American citizens who were born in former Soviet states and maintain ties with those countries. This person said the inquiry appeared focused on Republican fundraising and how money flows into US politics.

[...]

Ted Malloch, a self-described informal Trump campaign adviser, last week issued a statement saying he was stopped in Boston when returning from an international trip by FBI agents who took his cellphone and questioned him about Republican political operative Roger Stone and WikiLeaks. Malloch is scheduled to appear before Mueller's grand jury on April 13.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE: