This Friday, March 15 -- the Ides of March! -- might just be when we finally see more threads that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been pulling woven into something definable, if not a so- called "road map" from the Mueller team outlining evidence of crimes and offenses. What are the converging threads?
Paul Manafort will know how long he’ll be serving in prison, closing the book on special counsel Robert Mueller’s most visible legal fight. Roger Stone will know his trial date, putting a timeline on when the public will get more details about his alleged contacts with WikiLeaks. And status reports are due for two of Mueller’s biggest cooperators — Michael Flynn and Rick Gates — that will signal whether the special counsel has tapped them for all the information investigators need.
This week could even include the ultimate exclamation point: Attorney General William Barr announcing that Mueller has completed his assignment and that a summary version of his findings is imminent.
“It’s one of those moments when a number of the threads are finally starting to merge together, which is to be expected because we do appear to be near the end,” said Matthew Miller, a former Obama Justice Department spokesman.Much of what we suspect would be in a "road map" report by the Special Counsel has already taken place in plain view. Might indictments for members of Russian asset Donald "Rump" Trump's family accompany the tortuous coda of the investigation? (Some speculators across the pond are saying that Mueller already has the go- ahead to indict the Trump spawn and princeling Jared "Mr. Ivanka Trump" Kushner, but not Trump.)
While we're ready for this to be the beginning of the end for the Trump crime family, with the ongoing work by the Southern District of New York, various House committees and others, whatever we may see on the Ides of March is more likely to be the end of the beginning.
