As you probably know, Special Counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a new Grand Jury to deal with his Trump/Russia investigation. Law Professor Seth Abramson has been all over this beat since the beginning, and explains exactly what it means, and what to expect, in one of his amazing tweetstorms. I’ve added a few comments of my own. And scroll to the bottom for a shocking update.
N.B. Here and below, Abramson assumes (as many have) that that the Grand Jury is newly impaneled; however, a Reuters report indicates that the GJ has been active for some weeks, and the news is just coming out now. This may be because the GJ has been issuing subpoenas.
FARA is the Foreign Agents Registration Act. It requires anyone acting as an agent for a foreign government to register with the Feds. It seems quite likely that both Kushner and Flynn violated that law.
So, just what does “explode” mean, in Abramson’s terms? The pace of events will accelerate bigly, but if you’re hoping for a quick end, well, don’t hold your breath. Instead, take a look at yet another S.A. thread today, regarding just how many things will have to happen, and in what order.
TL/DR: This is Phase 2 (out of ten), and Phase 2 is the longest phase. Impeachment is Phase 9.
So yeah, it’ll be a while. Personally, I think it happens when 19 Senate Republicans realize that they’d much rather have Pence in the White House. And with the recent Jeff Flake op-ed, I suspect that we’re already halfway there.
SHOCKING UPDATE:
This just came across my feed, from John Schindler — ex-CIA, anti-Trump Republican, very conservative. His info has proven reliable before, and he has many contacts in the intelligence community. If true this is HUGE. And yes, “RIS” means Russian intelligence services.
OMFG.