effort involving implausible, over the top accusations that only the already indoctrinated would use to confirm their feelings further....and it involved only a few hundred thousand dollars from reports i had read. Further, there is evidence that trump had anything to do with it. Further, there is evidence that Russia was behind some of the Resistance rallies after Trump was elected as well.
There is no question that the russians have been doing this stuff in our elections for a while. And, in fact, so have we. Putin was mad at Hillary when she stuck her nose in his politics while SoS. Also, Obama actively sent political advisor and financial resources to Israel to try to defeat Netenyahu.
But there is NO evidence that DJT was involved. There IS evidence that Hillary and the Obama DOJ were involved with Russia in the creation, dissemination, and use of the Dossier to attack Trump however.
So to your question, yes it is possible in some widespread, effective cases, but no, it was not the case here.
If Mueller was worth anything, he would investigate the DOJ and the Dossier which was used to aid in getting a FISA on Trump. But he didn't recuse himself over his close friendship professionally and personally with a principal in the investigation (Comey), and he hired a team of radical liberal goons. He hired a guy like Weisman with a history of SCOTUS rebuke on previous cases and he raids old men in their homes at 5 AM. i don't expect he will do his job here.