and his associate Rick Gates were indicted on federal charges that were uncovered as part of the probe but are unrelated to collusion (they've pleaded not guilty to all charges); however, at the beginning of December, Trump's former national security adviser Ret. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contact with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

The Times report comes amid mounting concerns that Trump may fire Mueller as the investigation intensifies, even as the White House continues to deny any plans to do so. Earlier this week, Trump said he had an"absolute right" to do what he wants with the Justice Department, which critics characterized as a "veiled threat" against the special counsel. The American public has promised mass protests if the presidentdismisses Mueller before the probe concludes, and continues to closely follow the story—which this week NPR readers selected as the top political story of 2017.

Foreign policy analysts, legal experts, and reporters flooded social media with takeaways from the Times report on Saturday. Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, tweeted: "it will be hard for the Trump team to continue to portray Papadopoulos as a low-level volunteer who had limited access. But given that he's on Mueller's team, they will continue to do so."

Many commenters expressed the belief that there is "NO WAY" Papadopoulos declined to alert his colleagues at the Trump campaign that Russians had dirt on his opponent:

It is difficult to believe that Papadopoulos told an Australian diplomat that Russia had dirt on Clinton but didn’t mention