I am usually an optimist, but I must admit that for quite some time I had my doubts as to whether the Mueller investigation would ever unearth enough evidence to accuse Donald Trump of serious crimes. Several events which have occurred recently have forced me to reconsider my thoughts on that matter.

The first event that caused me to reevaluate how much incriminating evidence Mueller has on Trump was revelation that Mueller had agreed that he would accept Trump’s written answers instead of forcing him to submit to in person questioning. Mueller also agreed that the written questions would only pertain to the events which occurred before Trump took the oath of office.  On the surface it appears that investigative team gave away a critical advantage. Not only did Mueller give up the opportunity to question Trump in person and allowed Trump’s lawyers to sanitize the Trump’s answers, but the Special Council also appeared to be passing on the opportunity to ask Trump about his possible obstruction of justice violations since he took office.  Given Trump’s proclivity to lie even when the truth would serve, on the surface it also appeared that Mueller was throwing away an opportunity to catch Trump perjuring himself.

However, that not how I read that situation. I now believe that this concession by Mueller is proof positive that his team is starting to wind up the investigation.  If Mueller were to subpoena Trump to answer questions in person, Trump and his lawyers would fight that subpoena all they way through the Supreme Court. Despite precedents to the contrary, given the current composition of the court Trump might even have a realistic chance of winning.  Regardless of the outcome, the legal battles would take months, perhaps more than a year.   Mueller obviously doesn’t want to wait that long to wrap up his investigation.

Allowing Trump to answer questions in writing is also an indication that Mueller already has enough evidence stockpiled that he doesn’t need to question Trump in person or catch him lying under oath. However, the written answers to Mueller’s questions, even when massaged by his lawyers, lock Trump into a set of answers which he cannot deviate in the future when Mueller reveals all of the evidence that his team has gathered.  Trump won’t be able to pull his normal trick of pretending that he never said something after being caught in a lie.

It may also seem counter intuitive, but the second of these incidents that caused me to change my opinion about how much information Mueller’s team has gathered on possible collusion was their announcement that Paul Manafort had blown up this plea agreement by lying on multiple occasions to Mueller’s people. On the surface this seems like a set back for the investigation because Manafort was not only Trump’s campaign manager during a critical period of the campaign, but he also has strong ties to the Kremlin and was instrumental in softening the Republican platform with regards to the support of the Ukraine against Russia.  If there was indeed collusion between Putin’s minions and the Trump campaign, Manafort likely to have knowledge of it.  The breached plea agreement seemed to indicate that the investigation had lost a valuable witness who could speak with authority as to what really went on behind the scenes during the campaign.

However, it is important to understand that if Mueller’s team knows with certainty that Manafort was lying, they must have already known the correct answers of all of the questions they asked him before they began their questioning.  That means that they already had hard evidence (email, written documents, etc.) and testimonies from several other key players as to what really transpired even before Manafort copped a plea.  That alone speaks to the in amount of evidence that the Mueller team has already amassed, and it must also mean that they have evidence of collusion which Manafort wouldn’t verify.

Then there is the cautionary tale of Michael Cohen – Trump should have never ticked him off by distancing himself from Cohen and minimizing his worth.  As you are probably aware as part of a plea deal Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the negotiations to build a Trump building in Moscow.  He admitted in court under oath that he lied when he told a Senate committee that the deal fell through before the Iowa caucus.  He also admitted that he was still actively working through high placed Russian officials to get permission to erect the building even after Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee.  Cohen also admitted that he briefed candidate Trump and two of his children, Ivanka and Donald Jr., about the on-going negotiations on a regular basis and that he lied to Congress to align with Trump’s campaign message that he had no ties to Russia. This means that Donald Jr. lied to Congress about this same subject.

However, it is not Cohen’s testimony that should cause Trump a bout of anxiety.  Cohen is an admitted liar who has publicly announced he is now out to get Trump in any way possible. What should worry Trump is the fact that Mueller’s team has thoroughly checked out Cohen’s story against other evidence they have and has concluded that he is now telling the truth.  That means they have evidence in the form of documents and the testimony of other key players which back up Cohen’s current account.

Remember that Mueller’s team has all of the emails, documents and voice recordings that the FBI seized when they raided Cohen’s home and office. That is a treasure trove of Trump’s darkest secrets.  Also recall that Mueller’s team has been questioning a number of Trump’s business associates who have granted immunity in return for their cooperation.  Among these is Allen Weisselberg, the long-time chief financial officer of Trumps business organization. He too should have personal knowledge of the Moscow Trump Tower negotiations, at least from the financial perspective, and he is another person who knows where many of the bodies are buried in Trump’s past.

Mueller’s team also has the cooperation of Trump associate Felix Sater who was working with Cohen on the Moscow Trump Tower project. A long time associate of Trump, Russian born Sater was Cohan’s conduit to Russian government officials including Vladimir Putin.  Remember also that the investigators have also interviewed many members of Trump’s campaign team. Given that Mueller’s team can verify Cohen’s current account about the Moscow Trump Tower negotiations, you can bet that they also have other information that Trump hopes will never see the light of day.

Mueller’s team also seems to be closing in on Roger Stone, the best candidate to be the link between Wiki-leaks and the Trump campaign. It is well known that Stone was in frequent contact with Trump throughout his campaign. You may also recall Stone predicted in a tweet: “It will soon [be John] Podesta’s time in the barrel,” He later said in a radio interview that “Julian Assange and the Wikileaks people [are ready] to drop a payload of new documents on a weekly basis fairly soon.” The predictions both came true a few days after Stone made them. Stone, who initially claimed he made his predictions based on publicly available information, is now saying that he believes he is going to be indicted by Mueller, and he has ample reason for concern.

No less than thirteen of Stone’s associates, some of whom served on the Trump campaign, have been interviewed by Mueller’s team and/or were subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.  One of those associates was Jerome Corsi, a big conspiracy theorist and birther who Stone has recently identified as his source of information about the hacked emails released by Wikileaks.

Court documents filed by Mueller’s team indicate Corsi lied to Mueller’s investigators about being a conduit between Person 1 (Stone) and Organization 1 (Wikileaks).  Backing up their claim that Corsi lied to investigators, in the document Mueller’s team refers to several deleted emails that the FBI was able to recover from Corsi’s computer.  These emails, between Stone and Corsi, include requests from Stone that Corsi use his contacts with Wikileaks to determine the nature and timing of email dumps. There is also an email used by Corsi to forward Stone’s request by to another unidentified individual (Person 2) who had direct contact with Julian Assange.  Yet, other email from Corsi to Stone contained the information Stone had requested.

Based on publicly available information, the only dots left to connect is who Stone shared that information with in the Trump campaign and whether he shared it with Trump personally. Either Mueller already has evidence which already connects those doubts or look for him to put the squeeze on Stone to supply the necessary information.

All of these situations when taken together indicate to me that Mueller has much of the evidence he needs to prove that additional members of Trump’s campaign and Trump’s family, and likely Trump himself, are guilty of criminal activity.  They also indicate that Mueller is in the process of tying together the last few loose threads before concluding his investigation.  Also remember that when Mueller incited the Russian hackers, some of them were charged with collusion with unindicted American co-conspirators and that those American co-conspirators have never been identified.  That is ample proof that additional indictment are forthcoming before Mueller wraps up his investigation.

I have noticed that Mueller’s team has used the court documents associated with indictments and plea deals to reveal as much about the evidence his team has gathered as possible.  With acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker now capable of burying the findings of the investigation, I expect the court documents outlining the next i indictments to be very revealing. However, I don’t expect those indictments to be handed out or the final report of the investigation to be published until after the beginning of the new year.  Then if Whitaker tries to hide the report from the voters, House Democrats can subpoena it and question Mueller and his team in public committee sessions.

Due largely to the mid-term elections, the truth can no longer be hidden.

Cajun     12/2/2018