Many were surprised when the “first indictment” in Muller’s probe of Trump’s collusion with Russia to take over the United States was Trump’s actual campaign advisory, Paul Manafort. One expects prosecutors to go after the small fish first, then use their testimony to catch the bigger fish.
But that confusion is almost instantly settled on realizing that many weeks ago, Mueller and the FBI arrested and got a guilty plea from George Papadopoulos. You’ll remember him as an individual who was supposedly involved in opening up a Trump-Putin channel. The Trump campaign, under Manafort, pretty effectively discredited or diminished those claims, and threw Papadopoulos under the bus. We now know two things, however. One is that those claims were serious, even worse than they originally appeared, despite the Trump campaign’s efforts to tone them down. The other is that Papadopoulos was a small fish, and in this case, a small fish likely wearing a wire. Oh what would it be like to have an accounting of all the places he’s been, people he’s seen, since his guilty plea? Reporters? Got anything?
Once I heard all this I jumped to a provisional but I think correct conclusion. Mueller has multiple small fish. Papadopoulos is just the one we know about. He’s been collecting them, quietly, all along. And, moments ago a reader of this blog passed me some new information. Turns out that Sam Clovis, the current nominee to the Department of Agriculture’s chief science spot, is likely also a cooperative witness. It may be the case that Clovis was involved as well in setting up the Trump-Russia back-channel or related activities. That’s interesting. I wonder if his nomination is in jeopardy?
Anyway, I’m putting in on record now that I think Mueller has a whole kettle of fish. A virtual apiary of singing canary fish. Or at least, a few more. Any guesses as to who they might be?
