Robert Mueller’s Christmas surprise
Legal scholar Norm Eisen has said that he learned one thing in particular when he previously collaborated with Robert Mueller: “he loves surprises.” We’ve already seen quite a bit of this thus far in Mueller’s investigation into Donald Trump’s Russia scandal. He raided Paul Manafort’s home in the middle of the night without warning. He arrested George Papadopoulos and kept it secret for four months. He cut a deal with Michael Flynn, and Trump learned about it on television.
In the ten days since Mueller’s deal with Flynn became official, we’ve seen more or less nothing happen as a result of it. The key words there are “we’ve seen.” Thus far this investigation has been all about what we haven’t seen. We had no idea Mueller and the FBI had raided Manafort until weeks after the fact. We had no idea Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty, or that Papadopoulos was even involved, until Mueller was ready to strategically put that information out there. Based on the pattern, and the circumstantial evidence, Mueller is about to spring yet another surprise on us.
Since Flynn’s deal became official, we’ve all seen Jared Kushner scramble to finish putting his Jerusalem embassy last hurrah in place, even as he leaks stories to the media about how his White House tenure has run its course. He knows his time in the Trump administration is about to end. Is this because he knows he’s about to get arrested, or because he’s decided to cut a deal before he can be arrested?
Or maybe Robert Mueller’s surprise isn’t even Kushner. That’s the maddening nature of trying to decipher what he’s up to in the grand scheme of things, all while remaining three steps behind him. But we do know this: any ordinary prosecutor would wait until after Christmas to make his next move. In contrast, however, Mueller likes surprises. There’s no better way to shock someone into flipping then letting them know they’ll spend Christmas rotting alone in prison if they don’t hurry up and cut a deal. Robert Mueller’s Christmas surprise is coming.
