Commentators predict the next chapter of the Department of Justice’s Russia investigation at their peril, but there is good reason to expect one or more blockbuster developments in the next few weeks.

There are concrete indications that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is now about the business of laying down the last big pieces of the puzzle of Russian intervention in the 2016 election.

Mueller already has done the difficult digging on the Russian side of the equation, bringing detailed indictments in February 2018 for a wide-ranging Russian trolling operation related to the campaign, as well as the July 2016 hacking of Democratic Party emails. Now he’s looking to tie those allegations to people close to the Trump campaign.

The upshot may be allegations of “collusion,” of the sort the president has long denied. The actual charges are likely to be one of three criminal conspiracies: violating federal election laws, violating computer laws, or soliciting or receiving something of value from a foreign government. Charges, in other words, that not even the most ardent Trump die-hard could trivialize. They bring with them the possibility that Mueller might opt to name President Trump himself as an unindicted co-conspirator.

Even if Mueller is not about to close up shop, it's increasingly likely that the full contours of his inquiry will be known to the public by year's end.

Look first for an indictment against radio commentator Jerome Corsi, who told the world last week that after several months of his cooperating with the probe, Mueller has informed him that he will be charged with “some form of lying” to the Mueller team.

A fabulist, blowhard and general odd duck, Corsi might seem like small quarry for Mueller. But as with Paul Manafort’s lobbying partner Rick Gates, whose cooperation anchored the tax and fraud case against the former Trump campaign manager, Corsi is directly connected to another Trump insider, Roger Stone. Stone was in regular contact with candidate Trump during the campaign, and perhaps with WikiLeaks and its Russian sources.

Stone and Corsi appear to have had advance knowledge of the WikiLeaks October 2016 release of emails from the account of Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. Both men have indicated that Corsi was the source of Stone’s foolish Twitter boast and prophecy: It would “soon [be] Podesta’s time in the barrel.” Corsi suggests, implausibly, that he just sussed out WikiLeaks’ moves from publicly available sources, and Stone insists his email wasn’t referring to hacking or WikiLeaks anyway. He says he had no advance knowledge of the Podesta reveal.

And yet, given that the first cache from Podesta’s account was released a matter of minutes after the “Access Hollywood” tape sent the Trump campaign reeling, it seems possible the release was a coordinated effort, and Stone could have been the conduit.

Another augury of blockbuster developments: Mueller last week filed a statement in the District of Columbia court that is overseeing the case of Manafort, who awaits sentencing on his tax and fraud conviction. Mueller requested a 10-day delay in submitting a status report on the ground that the later report would “be of greater assistance” to the court’s work determining what sentence Manafort deserves. Mueller’s request strongly suggests that we’ll soon see important additional information bearing on the value of Manafort’s cooperation, up to and including a potential role as a key witness in a soon-to-be-unveiled criminal case.

The whole point of the enormous pressure Mueller brought to bear against Manafort was to shake loose information about persons above him in the food chain. Those are very few, arguably only Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner or Trump himself (who we know believes that Manafort could incriminate him).

Finally, Mueller’s team is scheduled to file a long-delayed court memorandum Dec. 4, laying out its view of the value of the cooperation of former national security advisor Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty more than a year ago to lying about his contacts with a Russian official. His sentencing was put off four times as the prosecutors continued to develop new cases and charges based on the information he provided. That they are now prepared to close the books suggests that they will be informing the court, and thus the public, of the full extent of his cooperation, including imminent new charges or charges that have been filed under seal.

More:

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-litman-mueller-probe-blockbuster-developments-20181120-story.html

They Be Scared

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker received $1.2 million between 2014 and 2017 from a conservative nonprofit in which he was reported as the only employee, The Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing tax filings.

But the source of the funds that the nonprofit organization, Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), used to pay Whitaker remain unclear, the Post reported.

The Post also reported it could not establish the origins of FACT, noting the group is part of a a national group of nonprofits that work to spread conservative messages, citing state and federal records, as well as interviews with those involved.

The foundation was created under a different name two years before Whitaker arrived in 2014, according to the Post.

A spokesman for FACT declined to tell the Post where the foundation received the funds it used to pay Whitaker, saying in a statement it "is not required" to release donor information.

“Like nearly all non-profit organizations — including those with similarly stated missions — FACT does not and is not required to release its donor information,” the spokesman reportedly said. “This protects free speech rights of all of these groups’ supporters as outlined in the First Amendment.”

FACT's pay to Whitaker included $500,000 in 2017, according to the Post.

At least some of the funds FACT received in 2014 reportedly came from DonorsTrust, a nonprofit organization that donors have used to anonymously give to conservative nonprofits, according to the Post, which cited tax filings.

The Post reported that the president of DonorsTrust declined to specify from where it had received the funding it then steered to FACT.

According to FACT's website, the foundation promotes "accountability, ethics, and transparency in government" by holding public officials accountable for unethical conduct.

Whitaker was appointed earlier this month as acting attorney general following the forced resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who drew Trump's ire for recusing himself from the Russia investigation.

Whitaker's appointment has come under fire because of his past criticisms of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, which Whitaker once suggested had gone "too far."

He also previously called for the investigation to be defunded. President Trump has called the probe a "witch hunt" and has said it should end.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/417733-whitaker-received-12m-from-conservative-nonprofit-report

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zS5wo30iazs