Should Trump Beware The Ides Of March?

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.

Trump-Russia Investigation "Tying Up Loose Ends"

While the media is consumed with presenting its hagiography of George H.W. Bush and his funeral, there are some potentially explosive developments in the Special Counsel's investigation coming up this week to keep an eye on:

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors have told defense lawyers in recent weeks that they are “tying up loose ends” in their investigation, providing the clearest clues yet that the long-running probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election may be coming to its climax, potentially in the next few weeks, according to multiple sources close to the matter. 

The new information about the state of Mueller’s investigation comes during a pivotal week when the special counsel’s prosecutors are planning to file memos about three of their most high profile defendants — former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen. 

A Flynn sentencing memo is due Tuesday, and memos about Manafort and Cohen are slated for Friday. All three documents are expected to yield significant new details on what cooperation the three of them provided to the Russia investigation. (snip)

The fact that Mueller is planning a public filing about Manafort suggests he may no longer feel the need to withhold information about his case in order to bring additional indictments against others. That would be consistent with messages his prosecutors have given defense lawyers in recent weeks indicating that they are in the endgame of their investigation. 

Maybe "tying up the loose ends" refers to completing the final report to be issued on the investigation; perhaps it refers to completing indictments for members of the Trump crime family and its attendants;  perhaps it also means finishing the evidentiary hand-offs to other prosecutors of ancillary crimes the Special Counsel's investigation has uncovered that are not directly in his purview.  How about all three?  Observers have noted that making the memos public in the courts keeps Trump flunky and "Acting Attorney General" Matthew Whitaker from deep- sixing damning evidence that would appear in the Special Counsel's final report.

As far as making an obstruction of justice case against Trump, the un- indicted co- conspirator has provided the Special Counsel with enough evidence (from the firing of James Comey to the dangling of pardons to various slugs) to justify a rather fat article of impeachment.

Keep an eye out today, and on Friday for the court filings and what they reveal.

We could be seeing two funerals this week.