While we still have no idea when Special Counsel Robert Mueller will submit his final findings to Attorney General William Barr, we do expect the next few days will serve up some key information.
Paul Manafort will know how long he’ll be serving in prison, closing the book on special counsel Robert Mueller’s most visible legal fight. Roger Stone will know his trial date, putting a timeline on when the public will get more details about his alleged contacts with WikiLeaks. And status reports are due for two of Mueller’s biggest cooperators — Michael Flynn and Rick Gates — that will signal whether the special counsel has tapped them for all the information investigators need.
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“It’s one of those moments when a number of the threads are finally starting to merge together, which is to be expected because we do appear to be near the end,” said Matthew Miller, a former Obama Justice Department spokesman.
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The centerpiece of this week’s action is Manafort’s sentencing. The punishment will put the final period on the federal charges against Trump’s former campaign chairman ...
For [Judge Amy Berman] Jackson, the question is whether she’ll use her full power and tack on as many as 10 years to the almost four years Manafort received from Virginia-based federal Judge T.S. Ellis III last week for a series of financial fraud crimes. The sentence Ellis gave was well below federal guidelines and drew outrage from some legal circles.
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This week also is big for Stone, the longtime Trump confidant facing charges of lying to Congress and obstructing lawmakers’ Russia probe. Jackson, the same judge overseeing Manafort’s case, is scheduled to set a trial date during a Thursday hearing that will represent a useful tea leaf for gauging Mueller’s plans.
Today is the deadline for Stone's lawyers to attempt to convince Judge Berman Jackson not to punish Stone for violating his gag order and failing to disclose the re-release of a book critical of the Russia investigation.
We should learn on Wednesday whether Mueller's team is ready to go ahead with sentencing for Flynn.
Flynn’s sentencing has been repeatedly delayed because the Mueller squad is still apparently pumping him for information about other lines of inquiry. This week’s report will be the first update on the subject since December, when the federal judge presiding over Flynn’s case convinced him during a tense court hearing to postpone his sentencing until his cooperation was complete.
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For Gates, a Friday deadline looms. The former Trump campaign deputy was the star witness against Manafort at his Virginia trial last summer and has been cooperating for more than a year with federal prosecutors. Attorneys for the special counsel and Gates have filed status reports four times with the court since his guilty plea in February 2018, requesting delays in his case while he helps with several ongoing investigations.
Friday’s filing could answer the question of whether Gates is still assisting prosecutors.