The timing of the Manafort indictment is really bad [View all]

[bluepen]

for Trump and his circle of officials/advisors.

I know it seems like we’ve been waiting forever, but this is actually an early indictment in what will likely be a long investigation.

So why the “rush” and why is the timing particularly bad for Trump?

Usually indictments come down at the end of an investigation, especially one that by all accounts seems to be limited to white collar crimes.

We know about the raid on Manafort, so there’s probably very little (maybe even no) concern that evidence will be destroyed. So that can’t be the reason to move on Manafort this early.

We’re talking white collar crimes and a guy who has no history of involvement with violent crime, so there’s likely no concern that anyone’s safety or life is in danger.

Mueller grabbed Manafort now because he has Manafort dead to rights. He wouldn’t do this otherwise. And I think this means Mueller also knows Manafort has the goods on people bigger than him. Maybe Kushner, maybe Don Jr., maybe Donald himself. Maybe all of them.

Amusing aside: count on hearing Trump defenders downplaying this with comments like, “This is all Mueller has? After all this time? After all this money?” Just remind them that the investigation is ongoing, so no, this isn’t all Mueller has.

Disclaimer: I may be stating the obvious in my post but over the weekend I succeeded at lowering my expectations and this morning I’m really thrilled to see Manafort in the hot seat.