Report: Mueller To Issue First Indictment Monday
Person unnamed, charges not yet known
The Special Council investigation led by James Comey friend and ally and former FBI head Robert Mueller has been in search of a crime since its questionable inception. In fact, so intent is he on digging up some kind of crime, any kind, that he’s amassed a legal team that rivals in size the entire U. S. Attorneys Office for the state of Rhode Island. Courtesy of your tax dollars.
Reports suggest that he’s bagging his first head on Monday. Reports do not, however, state who will be arrested or on what charges.
A federal grand jury in Washington has approved the first criminal charges in the special counsel’s investigation into Russian election interference, two sources told NBC News, marking a significant milestone in an inquiry that has roiled Donald Trump’s presidency.
Mueller’s Special Counsel’s Office will make public an indictment on Monday, a U.S. official with firsthand knowledge of the process confirmed to NBC News, without disclosing the name of the target or the nature of the charges. The timing was confirmed by a second source familiar with the matter.
CNN was the first to report on Friday that the grand jury approved charges, citing multiple sources. The network added that the charges remain sealed by order of a federal judge.
Sealing indictments is not uncommon at this stage, but as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) notes, “if you’re the person, you know.”
Whoever is targeted in the first charges sought by the special counsel’s Russia investigation likely already knows, said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former federal prosecutor.
“Believe me, if you’re the person, you know,” Christie, a former U.S. attorney, told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” Sunday. “If you’ve been told you’re a target, believe me, you’re not sleeping well anyway.”
The team of special counsel Robert Mueller investigating Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election and possible links to the campaign of President Donald Trump has sought charges against at least one unidentified target, ABC News has learned.
Sources tell ABC News an indictment announcement and arrest could possibly come as soon as Monday.
It’s been less than six months since Mueller was appointed Special Council, so it’s not a stretch to suggest, as does The New Yorker, that this might be a message to other targets and potential targets of the investigation.
[F]ive months into his investigation, Mueller has brought a first set of criminal charges. By the standards of recent special prosecutors, that is fast work, and it confirms Mueller’s reputation as someone who doesn’t like to dally. Now that he has started arresting people, there is no reason to suppose he will stop. And that is precisely the message he wants to send.
. . . . Speaking on CNN, Michael Zeldin, a lawyer who served as a special assistant to Mueller when he was director of the F.B.I., suggested that Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, might be the person charged. Zeldin imagined Mueller taking such a step to pressure Manafort to coöperate. “There is a lot of pressure on people who are under investigation to coöperate with Mueller after this indictment,” Zeldin said. Well before Mueller was appointed special counsel, the F.B.I. had been investigating Manafort’s financial ties to a pro-Russia party in the Ukraine. Mueller took over that investigation after he was appointed, in May. In July, F.B.I. agents staged a pre-dawn raid on Manafort’s home in Alexandria, Virginia.
Manafort isn’t the only name being speculated about. Other commentators suggested that Carter Page, a former adviser to the Trump campaign who had his own extensive Russian ties, or Michael Flynn, the former national-security adviser who was ousted from the White House over his post-election contact with Russia, might be subjects of the charges. It has been reported that the former F.B.I. director James Comey, when he was leading the Russia investigation, secured permission from a secret court operating under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to tap the communications of Page and Manafort. It has also been reported that Mueller’s team demanded White House documents about Flynn.
A key political question is whether these charges are related to things that happened as part of the Trump campaign, or whether they relate to alleged wrongdoings that occurred before it began or separate from it. If there are direct ties between the charges and the campaign, that will obviously have huge ramifications on Capitol Hill and elsewhere. But if the charges concern alleged actions on the part of Manafort or others that were unrelated to the 2016 campaign, the White House may well accuse Mueller of moving beyond his remit. That allegation wouldn’t be accurate—the terms of Mueller’s appointment gave him license to investigate “any matters that arose or may arise directly” from the Russia probe . . . .
Prior to the news breaking about the pending indictment, the Wall Street Journal editorial board called for Mueller to resign and for an investigation into the role the FBI may or may not have played.
Two pertinent questions: Did the dossier trigger the FBI probe of the Trump campaign, and did Mr. Comey or his agents use it as evidence to seek wiretapping approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Trump campaign aides?
Congressional investigators need to focus on the FBI’s role, and House Speaker Paul Ryan was correct Wednesday to insist that the bureau comply with Congress’s document demands “immediately.” Mr. Sessions has recused himself from the Justice Department’s Russia probe, but he and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein can still insist on transparency. Mr. Ryan should also reinstall Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes as lead on the Russia investigation, since it appears the Democratic accusations against him were aimed in part at throwing him off the Fusion trail.
All of this also raises questions about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The Fusion news means the FBI’s role in Russia’s election interference must now be investigated—even as the FBI and Justice insist that Mr. Mueller’s probe prevents them from cooperating with Congressional investigators.
Mr. Mueller is a former FBI director, and for years he worked closely with Mr. Comey. It is no slur against Mr. Mueller’s integrity to say that he lacks the critical distance to conduct a credible probe of the bureau he ran for a dozen years. He could best serve the country by resigning to prevent further political turmoil over that conflict of interest.
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Comments
Without knowing exactly, I gotta say it’s Manafort. Not that hard to see.
Agreed – there’s been leaks of a lot of shady financial dealings he was involved in with the Ukrainians back in the 2012 – 2013 time frame, and I could see charges coming from these easily. Interestingly, this is long before he was associated with Trump, and was actually working with the Podesta’s.
Carter Page’s name has come up a lot, but I have never seen any credible allegations of anything he did that was actually a crime. He was a private citizen, talking to Russians – so what? Same goes for Donald Trump Jr.; the left salivates about him being named, but no one can come up with an actual crime that he is supposed to have committed.
Illegally announced on a Friday afternoon to offset and hopefully override the coverage of Hillary and the DNC’s funding of the trump dossier, as well as to minimize coverage and discussion of the FBI’s collusion in the effort, AND the FBI’s likely illegal use of it to sell a FISA judge on granting secret wiretap and surveillance on the Trump campaign. I think that about covers it.
Pretty sure it’s not illegal to announce on a Friday afternoon. It happens all of the time.
No, but it is manipulative … feeding the political / news discussion panels and thereby shaping the media narrative through the weekend.
Of course it’s manipulative — so what? Your comment is a direct reply to healthguyfsu calling out clayusmcret on his bullshit claim that this is illegal. Do you have any defense of clayusmcret? If not, what exactly is the point of your comment? There’s nothing wrong with manipulating; everyone does it all the time.
Nothing particularly wrong with manipulation.
There’s also nothing wrong with noting that wholesale manipulation is taking place, and realizing what it implies—that someone is trying to swing far more weight than the facts or evidence at his disposal merit. I.e., the more manipulation, the less substance.
(6) Sealed Records. Records, orders, and subpoenas relating to grand-jury proceedings must be kept under seal to the extent and as long as necessary to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of a matter occurring before a grand jury.
IF there is nothing wrong with it, why didn’t Mueller just announce it?
You state, “There’s nothing wrong with manipulating; everyone does it all the time.”
That is the norm today but even now, not everyone seeks to manipulate. It is also a definitive factor in why this country is in the shape it is in, that and the rationalized acceptance of manipulation as something ‘everyone does all the time’.
It may seem quaint, but there was a time when these words defined a people: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”
No, there isn’t, but when used in the context of defending a bullshit claim that something illegal has occurred, it is itself manipulative, deliberately deflecting attention from the indefensible claim and pretending the claim was something else which is defensible.
Sorry. There’s plenty wrong with an organ of the Federal Government, particularly the Investigative and Enforcement Arm of the DOJ, using a media outlet that is itself complicit in manipulating the information being fed to the public and the government itself to create a narrative before the facts have been revealed.
Mueller should be fired immediately for this alone. And for his apparent refusal to recuse himself for his apparent conflict of interest.
This has all been an attempt by a Federal Agent to overthrow the legal vote in order to insert a thief and liar into the Presidency. At best it’s disinformation and worst it’s an attempted coup d’etat.
As such Mueller should be arrested along all others involved for treason.
You could call disinformation; manipulation, and you’d be correct but its the degree and intent that matters here.
Pence?! How dare you call him that?
I’m pretty sure you are wrong.
(6) Sealed Records. Records, orders, and subpoenas relating to grand-jury proceedings must be kept under seal to the extent and as long as necessary to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of a matter occurring before a grand jury.
The indictment is sealed. So the only crime we know that has been committed it one of Mueller’s investigation.
None of those records have been released and no names have been given.
No sealed record has been released. Therefore nothing illegal has occurred.
“No sealed record has been released. Therefore nothing illegal has occurred.”
Milhouse, best laugh I’ve had all week.
Yes, it’s manipulative and can be called out when it happens on both sides. Calling it illegal just makes someone look stupid…don’t make yourself look stupid (imagine last statement in the directv commercial voice).
No, the illegal is leaking the grand jury results AT ALL.
Besides being stupidly and self-damagingly false, clayusmcret’s position is also stupid — Friday afternoon announcements and releases are designed to hide things, not to draw attention to them. Friday afternoon is when you dump things on the media when people are least likely to notice, and by Monday it will be forgotten; later you can say “I told you about it, it’s not my fault you weren’t listening”.
“…dump things on the media when people are least likely to notice”
if you think that is what this was, then you are a fool.
That is what Friday afternoon dumps are for. If you don’t know that you’re utterly ignorant of politics and should not comment.
Manafort might not want to make any specific plans for Monday and Tuesday…
Two thoughts:
1- I could be wrong of course, but I have this voice in my head, telling me that it will be some B.S. charges in order to justify Mueller’s tapping into the taxpayer’s pocket.
2- Somehow, every time I try to think “Mueller”, the name “McCarthy” keeps popping in my head. I don’t know why.
I’ll spell out the difference for you. McCarthy was an elected official and incidentally, his claim of communists in the government and Hollywood turned out to correct!
Mueller is a selected administrator and not an Attorney General and it is known that he has a conflict of interest and is therefore acting illegal in ANYTHING he does except recuse himself.
His actions and reasons for his actions are suspect and his dealing with CNN is also reason suspect his motives.
He’s not looking for wrong doing, He’s looking for scapegoats to get his pals off the hook.
No need for “spelling”.
I would point out, however, that you could focus on the differences, or you could focus on the similarities. It’s a choice, right?
Miss Cankles in the Conservatory with the candlestick.
is it too much to hope for an honest and apolitical announcement?
Yes, who am I kidding – In a just world Commey would be in the dock for his obstructing justice, leaking classified data, allowing the (D)’s to hand over phones with NO SIM card, etc.
The indictment, and the subsequent leak, is designed to achieve the mandate that Mueller has from the Dems, to protect the Clintons, the Dems and the Obama administration. The timing is designed to quash the growing narrative concerning improper, possibly illegal, activities conducted by the Clintons, the Dems and the Obama administration with regard to Uranium One and the Steele dossier. It is designed to give alternative fodder to the Sunday news shows to bury U1 and the dossier inquiries. It also makes it harder, politically, for Trump to justify firing Mueller.
Will it have any bearing on charges of Russian/Trump collusion? Probably not. But finding evidence of such collusion was never the goal of the Mueller SP.
I’ll be surprised if it has anything to do with collusion with the Russians. It will most likely be some other crime that Mueller will use to try and blackmail someone into testifying against someone else.
“Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime.” L. Beria
Reminds me of the Martha Stewart fiasco.
Martha and Scooter taught us well the lesson of never speaking to a Federal Agent under most any circumstances.
And now we see it probably being used again.
This will certainly cause anyone who knows anything to be less forthcoming without as many safeguards as their lawyer can get.
Which is a valuable lesson in its own right.
Some have speculated Manaforte and Podesta
If the indictment includes Podesta, I might start believing that Mueller is being aboveboard and neutral in his investigations.
Having said that, I’d be willing to bet that if it’s Manafort- it won’t include Podesta.
Ham sandwich was indicted for collusuon with Russian dressing and America cheese
With a side of Treason and an Attempted Coup.
This entire dog and pony show is based on a fake dossier and needs to be shut down ASAP by Trump. Mueller himself hand delivered 20% of our uranium to the Ruskies under the direction of Obama and Hillary. He has no credibility in this matter.
Bullshit. You have just lost all credibility by telling this deliberate and defamatory lie.
How eloquent.
In any event, at worst, Paddy exaggerates, but is not lying. Mueller, we will find out, is covering his own butt:
“Hill investigators also are looking into a Russian firm’s uranium deal that was approved by the Obama administration in 2010 despite reports that the FBI – then led by Mueller – had evidence of bribery involving a subsidiary of that firm.
“Critics question whether Mueller’s own ties to the bureau as well as fired FBI director James Comey now render him compromised as he investigates allegations of Russian meddling and collusion with Trump officials in the 2016 race.
“The federal code could not be clearer – Mueller is compromised by his apparent conflict of interest in being close with James Comey,” Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., who first called for Mueller to step down over the summer, said in a statement to Fox News on Friday. “The appearance of a conflict is enough to put Mueller in violation of the code. … All of the revelations in recent weeks make the case stronger.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/27/mueller-facing-new-republican-pressure-to-resign-in-russia-probe.html
From the Wall Street Journal:
“Democrats, Russians and the FBI:
Did the bureau use disinformation to trigger its Trump probe?” —
“Former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka agreed that Mueller should step aside, arguing that he cannot be an impartial investigator because of his previous relationship with Comey when the two worked together at the Department of Justice.
“His closeness to James Comey and the fact that he was implicated to the sale of uranium and CFIUS [the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States],” Gorka said citing a controversial deal approved by nine government agencies, including the State Department, then run by Clinton. The deal authorized a Russian-owned company to receive significant ownership of U.S. uranium mining rights.
Despite a Justice Department corruption investigation into the Russian company, the deal was approved in 2010. At the time, Robert Mueller was director of the FBI, a fact that has raised questions among critics.
President Trump has repeatedly attacked the Russia investigation as a “witch hunt,” but he and members of his Justice Department have denied plans to fire Mueller.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-russians-and-the-fbi-1508971759?mg=prod/accounts-wsj
Mueller is going down. So is clinton.
So are the beta-male metrosexual useful idiots at the likes of Buzzfeed:
“Buzzfeed Crew Shocked To Learn They Have Low Testosterone Levels”
https://www.infowars.com/buzzfeed-crew-shocked-to-learn-they-have-low-testosterone-levels/
It is not an exaggeration, it’s an outright lie. Of course you are exactly the sort of lowlife who would defend it.
I’ll take the word of someone who’s actually looked.
“At the time this unidentified man became an informant, the FBI was led by director Robert Mueller, who is now the special counsel investigating whether Trump colluded with Russia. The investigation was centered in Maryland (Tenam’s home base). There, the U.S. attorney was Obama appointee Rod Rosenstein — now President Trump’s deputy attorney general, and the man who appointed Mueller as special counsel to investigate Trump.
Interestingly, as the plea agreement shows, the Obama DOJ’s Fraud Section was then run by Andrew Weissmann, who is now one of the top prosecutors in Robert Mueller’s ongoing special-counsel investigation of suspected Trump collusion with Russia.
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/452972/uranium-one-deal-obama-administration-doj-hillary-clinton-racketeering”
The liar here is you.
None of which even slightly supports PaddyORyan’s damned lie.
So CNN reports (one strike) that somebody is going to be charged with something at some time by somebody else.
Wow.
Thrilling news.
Yeah, I’ll agree that it’s probably Manafort and his various Russian dealings, but… I think I’ll withhold comment until something with a little more solidity to it comes out. If it is Manafort, he’s had months to go back and double-check all of his records of business deals in consultation with a lawyer, so expect those records to be polished to a glossy shine.
CNN was first to report (i.e. they “broke” the story), but NBC News and ABC News both independently verified it. As has Fox News, and Trey Gowdy is now slamming Mueller, correctly so, over the “leak.” http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/29/speculation-swirls-amid-reports-mueller-has-filed-charges-in-russia-trump-associates-probe.html
It’s one thing to distrust the media and quite another to be willfully and condescendingly obtuse.
Mueller reminds one of the corrupt school chancellor in “Scent of a Woman.” What we need is someone from the Trump admin to give the Al Pacino speech:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypx1Stz8zN0
Hey, anyone heard from perv-enabler barry obama? We know he’s hiding from his complicity in the Weinstein scandal. Let’s ferret the fraud out.
Is it possible to ask a serious question here without getting flamed? Is it, in fact, legal to leak news of upcoming grand jury indictments to the press?
IANAL, but I have seen it both ways, some say yes, some say no.
Common sense says that what was actually leaked wasn’t any specific info, just, “Hey charges coming Monday!” I would think to have it be actually illegal they would have had to give out protective or specific info to make it illegal.
Not that common sense has much to do with the law most times.
Putting up lawn signs and passing them out to neighbors is by definition an attempt to manipulate an election. The real target of the investigation is not a person but the SCOTUS decision in Citizens United.
When will Sessions appoint a special counsel to investigate Uranium One and Mueller’s involvement in it? I have to imagine that would put a damper on his investigation.
convenient that a few days after the dems being confirmed to be behind the fake “dossier”, that all of a sudden Mueller is ready to indict