A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these is legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked these out. Here are the real facts:
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CLAIM: Special counsel Robert Mueller has spent over $50 million in taxpayer funds investigating Russian election interference.
THE FACTS: The special counsel’s investigation has not come close to spending $50 million, according to the most recent Justice Department reports, which were released in December. According to the reports, the investigation had cost just over $25 million as of September 2018. False claims on the cost of the investigation have circulated on social media in the past and resurfaced after President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, testified Wednesday before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Trump has also spread false information on the amount spent on the investigation, first tweeting in November that the investigation had cost about $40 million and following up a few days later with a tweet that said the total was $30 million. Mueller has charged 34 people in relation to the investigation.
–AP Writer Beatrice Dupuy reported this item from New York.