Early on Monday morning, Special Counsel Robert Mueller handed down his first set of indictments in the Trump/Russia investigation, after a federal grand jury indicted former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his longtime business associate Rick Gates on 12 charges, including conspiracy against the United States.
According to a senior member of the House intelligence committee, Mueller is said to have “sufficient information” to also indict Trump’s former national security advisor Michael Flynn. The arrest is expected to happen soon.
Facing prosecution, two former high ranking officials in Trump’s inner circle will be pressured to exchange their testimony in exchange for lesser sentencing and/or the possibility of avoiding criminal prosecution entirely.
Even with this all happening, there’s credible information that Trump is waiting out resignation at this point. So far, Flynn has yet to testify against him since Congress refused to grant him immunity in exchange for his testimony – testimony that could have been extremely damaging to Trump.
According to Claude Taylor, who served on the staff of President Bill Clinton, Flynn’s testimony is enough for Trump to consider waving the white flag.
“An ind journalist I have worked with-who has been reliable-says they have 2 sources that say Trump is considering options-incl resignation.”
The information was also confirmed by Former chairman of RNC Steele, who told WWR at lunch that Trump will not finish his term; advises clients to bolster ties w/VP Pence.
Also, on Monday, it was announced that former Trump campaign advisor George Papadopolous pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI. This despite going on national television numerous times saying he had nothing to hide.
Special Counsel: Trump campaign advisor George Papadopolous pleaded guilty to making false statements to FBI agents. https://t.co/e1sUrHGnUF pic.twitter.com/5SyEtA2CuX
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 30, 2017
George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with an influential Russian. This is how it relates to the campaign. pic.twitter.com/iYFPGhq3Ve
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 30, 2017
Per the Huffington Post:
“He told the FBI an overseas professor had “told him about the Russians possessing ‘dirt’ on then-candidate Hillary Clinton in the form of ‘thousands of emails,’ but stated multiple times that he learned that information prior to joining the campaign,” according to court documents. In fact, Papadopoulos was contacted after he learned he’d be joining the campaign, and the professor only mentioned the “thousands of emails” after he’d been on the Trump campaign for more than a month.
The professor, the statement indicates, had “substantial connections to Russian government officials” even though Papadopoulos claimed the professor was “a nothing.”
Mueller is going after Trump like he would a mafia family, says former Obama Justice official Matt Miller:
“I think it means this will be a rolling investigation. Rather than conduct his entire investigation and then wrap things up with indictments and possibly a report at the end, he is doing it in stages, the way the Justice Department might attack a drug cartel or a mafia family.”
Miller adds that this “is a watershed moment for the politics surrounding the investigation. In less than six months on the job, Mueller has already returned indictments.
“This isn’t a fishing expedition or a witch hunt — it’s an investigation that’s already born fruit with a grand jury of regular Americans finding probable cause that a crime was committed.”
