Questions for the realists here regarding Monday

[brettdale]

Im a pessimist, so I'm thinking nothing will happen monday.

I know the optimists are thinking Don Jnr and Manafort will be lead away and cuffs.

I would like to know what the realists think, or the people who follow the law
think what will happen monday, the steps involved etc.

[MiltonBrown]

1. I think it's best to hope for the best but prepare for crickets.

I have absolutely zero inside knowledge it just seems like we always get our hopes up only to be disappointed.

[brettdale]

2. yep agree just wonderign how it happens?

Do they walk into Muellers office??

Does he come for them?

Are there actually arrests and people put in cuffs?

Whats the next step?

[napi21]

3. I doubt anyone will be hand cuffedanywhere. My suspicion is Manafort will be seen turning

himself in to whatever authority that's required in this case. The main reason I believe that the charges will only involve his is because he was already warned of his arrest several weeks ago.

[Angry Dragon]

4. Kelly

[wasupaloopa]

5. My gut feeling is that no one will go to jail for anything Mueller investigating.

The Senate investigation has stopped. Soon the House will give up and everyone in Mueller's investigation will skate.

[JI7]

6. i don't know anyone who seriously thinks don jr will be led away in cuffs

[TrollBuster9090]

9. You mean BESIDES the dominatrix hookers he paid to cuff him, and then spank him with

with a pleather cat-o-nine tails back in the 90s?

[TreasonousBastard]

7. I'll just wait for Monday and see what happens.

[TrollBuster9090]

8. As far as I know, nothing will happen Monday, except the Toronto Dominion Bank might have to

reveal who paid GPS. We already know it was the Washington Free Beacon and the DNC. But there might have also been other GOP funders.

As for Mueller's sealed indictment, my understanding was that it could remain sealed for some time. I think he just formulated the charges, and then had them sealed so that the Trump Administration can't keep saying that his investigation isn't going anywhere. He is due to submit a BUDGET in a couple of weeks, and I think the Trump administration was planning to say "it's a waste of money to keep funding an investigation that hasn't lead anywhere!" To which Mueller's backers can say "but it IS leading somewhere. They've got one indictment (although we don't know who it is), and it's probably the first of many."

In other words, it was another one of Mueller's preemptive measures. When Trump started making noises about pardoning everybody, so that Mueller would have no leverage to trade little fish for big ones...Mueller opened a joint investigation with the AG of New York, where Trump has no authority to pardon.

Now, when Trump is making noises about killing the investigation because it hasn't gone anywhere, Mueller indicts somebody (and then seals it, so he doesn't give his hand away). So, they can no longer claim it isn't going anywhere.

But if you wanted me to bet on who the indictment is for, my money would be on Manafort.

[DeminPennswoods]

11. Agree on Manafort and possibly Flynn

Manafort has reportedly already been told he'll be indicted. Flynn has already been caught red-handed on a few fronts. Additionally, the cases on both men were previously in the works by a grand jury in the eastern district of VA before Mueller took them over. It seems reasonable to think they're the most advanced cases at this point and most prosecution ready.

Remember, too, that Flynn/lawyer asked for immunity right off the bat as the congressional investigations began. To me, that indicates Flynn is ready and willing to flip. He and his lawyer might just have been waiting for an indictment to make a proffer.

[TrollBuster9090]

13. Yep, and even if they're not ready with indictments on money laundering etc.

they could easily be indicted on things as trivial as their lying about meeting with Russians on their security clearance application forms. Mueller could just indict them on those, and then seal the indictment so that nobody will now how small the charge is. But it achieves the goal of stopping the Mueller critics from claiming the investigation isn't leading to anything.

[DeminPennswoods]

14. I've been struck by the "radio silence" from Flynn

and his lawyers since the request for immunity was rejected. Is it possible Flynn is already cooperating?

[TrollBuster9090]

16. Possibly, but to be honest, I don't think Flynn knows very much.

I think he's just a petty, vindictive little man who wanted to get revenge on Obama for firing him by sticking it to Clinton; and did some unscrupulous things for Russia in exchange for money.

I think there's a file on Flynn in the Kremlin someplace that pegs him as a classic "useful idiot." I think the same is probably true for Carter Page.

Manafort, on the other hand, probably knows a LOT, having been involved with Putin and other Russian oligarchs for years.

[Hornedfrog1985]

17. Well

He knows what happened in that trump tower meeting.

[TrollBuster9090]

19. True enough. And also, since he IS a petty, vindictive little man....

by now he probably wants to get revenge on TRUMP. He might even roll on him WITHOUT needing to be indicted. Just the fact that he's having to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars on lawyers, while Donald Sr., and his son Butthead are paying for THEIR lawyers out of GOP funds would probably be enough to turn him into a canary.

[Hornedfrog1985]

20. He was also

In the other meeting with cohen and felix sater. Sater has been an fbi informant in the past. He could be key to flipping everyone,

[uponit7771]

21. +1

[Hortensis]

15. Good point. Further, could the threat itself of moving forward

with the indictment, which would be explosive news, possibly be used to check Trump's actions?

A former prosecutor was saying indictments are normally sealed when it's believed the target might flee the country. But could this one be sealed as a preemptive threat?

For no particular reason, money I could afford to lose would be on someone in the campaign's data gathering and analysis arm, like Parscale or someone at Cambridge Analytica.

[TrollBuster9090]

18. Interesting theory!

Yes, definitely a long shot bet.

But, rather than being used as a threat, the sealed indictment might be being used to intimidate people. As long as the indicted person is unknown (and doesn't even know himself/herself who it is), it will keep everybody off balance. As long as it's sealed, it COULD be ANY of them.

Pretty clever on Mueller's part. He's kept one step ahead of these guys every since he took the job. Meanwhile, the GOP isn't making any friends at the FBI. They're slinging mud at the credibility and integrity of the FBI just to protect Trump. I think the days of Republicans having political operatives inside the FBI (ie-like James Kallstrom giving Rudy Giuliani inside information on Huma Abedin's computer, in order to submarine Hillary Clinton) are numbered. They're burning those bridges pretty fast.

[Hortensis]

10. If true, it may be no one we know of, someone pointing out that

charges are usually sealed when there is risk the target will flee the country. Jr. and Manafort have long been aware they're in the gun sights.

One Chris Hayes expert suggested the investigation is so broad that the charges might not relate to Russia and collusion at all, but other crimes uncovered during the investigation.

A response to that was intriguing. That former prosecutor believed that Mueller's opening salvo would be something aimed directly at the heart and purpose of the investigation, Russia's involvement in our election and the Trump campaign.

But Rachel pointed out that this is a single-source story, the latest of many rumors that did not pan out. CNN is reporting it as happening, no one else yet.

[democratisphere]

12. Very few know something, most know nothing.

It isn't good to speculate on what might happen because it is pure conjecture at this time. Be patient, the ball is finally rolling on this mess.