The real reason Robert Mueller has suddenly begun handing out immunity in the Trump-Russia scandal

| 9:05 pm EDT July 17, 2018
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For all of the numerous grand jury proceedings, indictments, arrests, plea deals, and other legal tools being regularly used in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation, there’s one tool we’ve very rarely heard invoked: immunity. Earlier this year there were reports that Mueller had given partial immunity to political operative George Nader. But beyond that, it was clear that Mueller simply didn’t see the need to hand out many free passes – until now, when he’s suddenly giving immunity to five people.

Mueller is now asking the judge in the Paul Manafort trial to grant immunity to five witnesses so they can testify against him. So who are they? Don’t get your hopes up, as we’re not going to find out any time soon, or maybe ever. Court filings reveal that Mueller wants their names to remain sealed. But this nonetheless tells us a lot.

Mueller’s filings argue that these individuals could suffer “harassment” and “reputational harm” if it becomes known that they were granted immunity in the Trump-Russia scandal, and there’s a fear that if they’re not given immunity, they might simply plead the Fifth Amendment instead. The upshot is this: Mueller wants to nail Manafort badly enough, he’s willing to let other witnesses take the stand and confess to their own roles, knowing he’ll never be able to use it against them. That does tell us something about who these five people are – and it also tells us how Mueller might use the same approach against Trump.

The only way Robert Mueller would allow these five witnesses a free pass is if they’re unimportant enough, or their roles were irrelevant enough, that he doesn’t care about prosecuting them. In other words, he’s letting the sideshow characters off the hook in exchange for their assistance in taking down a bigger fish like Manafort. Now that we’ve reached the point where Mueller has begun handing out immunity, it’s likely he’ll continue doing so going forward. It’s also a (probably intentional) signal to Donald Trump’s underlings that immunity may be on the table for them if they’re willing to testify against Trump.