THEY HIRED THE MONEY:

Five years ago, President Obama signed a bill imposing sanctions on a group of powerful people there charged with involvement in the death of a Russian lawyer who uncovered a $230 million tax fraud scheme -- and then died in government custody. The sanctions infuriated Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Since then, the State Department has put more people on its sanctions list, usually at the beginning of each year, and the choice it makes next month about who or how many people it adds could be consequential.

"This is the big test for Donald Trump about whether he is really a friend of Putin's or whether he's a tough guy as to whether he actually adds names," said Bill Browder, a financier-turned-advocate who pushed for the sanctions.

"This is highly significant and highly pregnant with meaning whatever he does or doesn't do, if he really wants to take the wind out of the sails of this collusion narrative," Browder also said.

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