Note: The Mueller investigation is coming to an end next week according to the media. The question is will this be the end, or will this be the beginning of a new chapter of prosecutions and investigations into Donald Trump, his family, business and campaign? The indications are that the latter is likely.
The New York Times reports that “A concise report will probably act as a “road map” to investigation for the Democratic House — and to further criminal investigation by other prosecutors.” Neal K. Katyal, an acting solicitor general under President Barack Obama, describes the situation as Mueller’s report “would mark the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end.”
Garrett M. Graff writes, Seven Scenario’s For How The Mueller Probe Might Wrap-Up, in Wired writes “There remain many open questions, even as the consensus around Washington appears to be zeroing in on Mueller “wrapping up.” But what would that actually entail? Are we just hours away from a sweeping indictment that makes public the pee tape and explains every intimate detail of a years-long plot to co-opt Donald Trump as a Russian intelligence asset dating all the way back to 1987, as Jonathan Chait has argued?”
In addition to the next stage of the Mueller investigation and any prosecutions or investigations it spawns, next week, Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, will publicly testify about his role as Trump’s long-time lawyer. It will be a week of surprises, and a difficult week for Trump and his allies. KZ
Are sealed indictments Mueller’s backstop?
When CNN broke the news that Robert Mueller would be submitting his report to Attorney General Bill Barr as soon as next week, many people who have been following this investigation closely were skeptical, primarily because so much of the probe is still in process. A list of people who were obviously under investigation, but whose cases haven’t been resolved yet, gives you some idea of why they questioned the news.
As we wait to see what happens next, it would be helpful to remember a story ABC News reported back in November, just after the midterm elections.
Nearly three dozen sealed criminal indictments have been added to the federal court docket in Washington, D.C. since the start of 2018.
Sealed criminal court files are assigned a case number, but do not indicate the identity of the parties or the nature of the charges, so it is impossible for the public to discern what those sealed cases contain.
But several legal experts told ABC News the number of sealed cases awaiting action right now is unusual. Fourteen were added to the docket since late August alone, a review by ABC News has found, just as the midterm elections were drawing near and longstanding Justice Department policy precluded prosecutors from taking any public action that could appear to be aimed at influencing political outcomes.
And the inadvertent discovery on Thursday night of what appear to be secret charges pending against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has drawn fresh attention to the mystery.
It is important to keep in mind that no one knows whether these sealed indictments are part of Mueller’s investigation. But as the report suggests, many were added during the time right before the midterm elections, when Justice Department policy discourages any public action that could interfere with the outcomes.
If any of those sealed indictments came from Mueller’s team, it was wise on the part of prosecutors to submit them prior to the midterm elections. The Special Counsel can only indict someone with the approval of the attorney general. Prior to the midterms, Deputy AG Rosenstein was overseeing the investigation. On the day after the elections, Trump appointed Matt Whitaker as Acting Attorney General. He would have been the one to approve any indictments since November, with AG Barr taking over the responsibility after he was confirmed last week.
There’s one final point to keep in mind. The regulations governing a special prosecutor state that “at the conclusion of the Special Counsel’s work, he or she shall provide the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the Special Counsel.” In other words, the focus of Mueller’s report will be to explain his indictments and plea agreements (as well as those he didn’t indict).
I highly recommend Garrett Graff’s latest piece titled “7 Scenarios for How the Mueller Probe Might Wrap Up.” As we await the next steps in the Special Counsel’s investigation, he reminds us of two important things.
Indeed, there have only been two immutable truths thus far in the Mueller probe: First, every move has surprised us, both in timing and content; second, every court filing has been more informed, detailed, and insightful than anyone imagined, and shown us that what we knew publicly was only the tip of the iceberg. There’s no reason to think that Mueller’s denouement will be anything different.
Attorney General Bill Barr might be able to suppress what Mueller writes in his report. But a sealed indictment can only be dismissed by a judge. That might be how Mueller surprises us this time.