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Evidence is mounting that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is moving toward further indictments — and perhaps some big ones, with an end-of-year flurry of activity.

The big picture: Graff — one of the most astute Mueller-watchers, and author of a book focused on his dozen years as FBI director — sees six signs that a Mueller climax may be accelerating.

Mueller is tightening the screws on Jerome Corsi, a friend of former Trump adviser Roger Stone. A plea deal — or charges — appear imminent.

Ecuador may be moving toward turning over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The government removed its Assange-backing U.K. ambassador last week, and has prohibited his lawyers from meeting with him. The report yesterday by The Guardian that Assange and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort may have met repeatedly — denied by Manafort and Assange — raises the stakes dramatically.

Russian spy and NRA superfan Maria Butina is reported to be in talks for a plea deal.

A number of Mueller’s prosecutors were hard at work on Veterans Day — when Michael Cohen took the train to Washington to talk to Mueller's team.

ABC News reported an "unusually high" number — nearly three dozen, in fact — of sealed indictments filed over the course of the year in D.C. Fourteen of those have been added since August, a period when Mueller’s investigation was publicly quiet.

And this big one: President Trump last week finally turned in long-awaited written answers to Mueller’s investigators. His story — or at least a version of it — is now locked in. By doing so, Trump tacitly acknowledged Mueller's authority, despite tweeting last night: "The Mueller Witch Hunt is a total disgrace."

Since Mueller laid low while waiting for Trump’s responses, the special counsel may have wanted to avoid taking any action that might spook the president.

Mueller appears to have been thinking this through carefully — not rocking the boat while he waited out Trump. His team delayed a mid-November hearing, where prosecutors were supposed to discuss Paul Manafort’s "lack of cooperation." They made that accusation Monday, after Trump’s answers were in hand.

So the timeline looks like it's speeding up, after four months of near silence from Mueller. Manafort's lack of cooperation might be the opening needed to file Mueller's most explosive findings in public shortly.

That could include new information about that mysterious 2016 Trump Tower meeting, or details about a possible Assange connection.

Based on Monday's court filing, Mueller apparently hopes to quickly issue a "report" on Manafort’s activities to the court, one that — if it’s anything like other documents Mueller has filed thus far — will be more informed, more knowledgeable and more detailed than we can imagine.

Be smart: We've been surprised at every turn by how much Mueller knows.

Graff writes for WIRED: "Robert Mueller's endgame may be in sight."

Signs point to an acceleration of Mueller's endgame

The special counsel may be moving toward further indictments, perhaps some big ones.

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Mueller investigation

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Everyone's waiting for the "Mueller Report." But it turns out that special counsel Robert Mueller is writing a "report" in real time, before our eyes, through his cinematic indictments and plea agreements.

The big picture: One of the least-noticed elements of the special counsel's approach is that all along, he has been making his case bit by bit, in public, since his very first court filing. With his major court filings so far, Mueller has already written more than 290 pages of the "Mueller Report." And there are still lots of loose ends in those documents — breadcrumbs Mueller is apparently leaving for later.

Perhaps the best example is Mueller's oddly specific reference to the Russian hackers targeting Hillary Clinton "for the first time" after candidate Trump's still-unexplained "Russia, if you're listening" comment on July 27, 2016.

Trump said: "I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 [Clinton] emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press." (He also said: "I have nothing to do with Russia.")

A Mueller indictment in July said that the next day, "the Conspirators ... attempted after hours to spear-phish for the first time email accounts at a domain hosted by a third-party provider and used by Clinton’s personal office."

That shows Mueller has access to much more intelligence than is publicly known. Remember, these are Russian government employees. So Mueller has remarkable and thus far unexplained visibility. 

By making such detailed filings, Mueller is actually increasing his burden of proof — suggesting a supreme confidence that he has the goods.

And by making so much public as he goes along, Mueller is also insuring against his probe being shut down or otherwise curtailed by the White House. 

Some of his deeply detailed filings raise questions that suggest more is coming:

In a February indictment of officials of the Russian troll factory, he announced that three Internet Research Agency employees traveled to the U.S. in 2014. He indicted two of them, but left unindicted someone from the IRA who evidently traveled to Atlanta as part of the operation for four days in 2014.

Mueller makes clear in the indictment that he knows the precise IRA official to whom this unnamed male traveler filed his Atlanta expenses after the trip.

The information could have come from U.S. intelligence or another country. But Mueller leaves the impression he may have a cooperator inside the troll factory. 

Mueller said in last week's Michael Cohen plea agreement that a "Moscow Project" meeting about a Trump-branded building in Russia was called off, by Cohen, on the same day that the DNC hack became public. 

Based on a court filing last week, Mueller apparently hopes to quickly issue a "report" on Manafort’s activities to the court.

Be smart: If it’s anything like every other document Mueller has filed thus far, it'll be more informed, more knowledgeable, and more detailed than we can imagine.

In Mueller investigation, Trump is now "Individual 1"

Mueller's breadcrumbs suggest he has the goods

With his major court filings so far, Mueller has already written more than 290 pages of the "Mueller Report."

Everyone&#x27;s waiting for the &quot;Mueller Report.&quot; But it turns out that special counsel Robert Mueller is writing a &quot;report&quot; in real time, before our eyes, through his cinematic indictments and plea agreements.The big picture: One of the least-noticed elements of the special counsel&#x27;s approach is that all along, he has been making his case bit by bit, in public, since his very first court filing. With his major court filings so far, Mueller has already written more than 290 pages of the &quot;Mueller Report.&quot; And there are still lots of loose ends in those documents — breadcrumbs Mueller is apparently leaving for later.

For WIRED, Garrett M. Graff compiled the full list of 17 known investigations targeting President Trump’s world from various federal, state, and local prosecutors.

Be smart: The president should be worried after his Sunday tweet about "rats." There are known cooperators in almost every single one of these 17 open cases, from Michael Cohen to National Enquirer chief David Pecker to former Manafort aides Sam Patten and Rick Gates, Graff tells Axios readers.

Investigations by special counsel Robert Mueller:

Russian government’s election attack (the Internet Research Agency and GRU indictments) 

Middle Eastern influence: Potentially the biggest unseen aspect of Mueller’s investigation is his year-long pursuit of Middle Eastern influence targeting the Trump campaign.

Other campaign and transition contacts with Russia

Investigations by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York:

Campaign conspiracy and Trump Organization finances

Investigations by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia:

Investigations by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia:

Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, the alleged chief accountant of the Internet Research Agency who was indicted separately earlier this fall, charged with activity that went above and beyond the 2016 campaign. Why she was prosecuted separately remains a mystery.

Turkish influence: Michael Flynn’s plea agreement includes some details of the case, and he is cooperating with investigators.

Investigations by New York City, New York State and other state attorneys general:

Tax case: In the wake of an N.Y. Times investigation that found Trump had benefited from more than $400 million in tax schemes, city officials said they were investigating Trump’s tax payments, as did the New York State Tax Department. 

Emoluments lawsuit: The attorneys general for Maryland and D.C. sent out subpoenas earlier this month for Trump Organization and hotel financial records relating to their lawsuit that the president is in breach of the "Emoluments Clause" of the Constitution, which appears to prohibit the president from accepting payments from foreign powers while in office.

And there's a mystery investigation from an unknown office:

Redacted Case #2: A second, redacted Flynn investigation could be one of the other investigations mentioned here. It could also represent another as-yet-unknown unfolding criminal case or could be a counterintelligence investigation that will never become public. 

The 17 known Trump-related investigations

There are known cooperators in almost every single one of these 17 open cases.

Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Donald Trump

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<a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="For WIRED" data-vars-click-url="https://www.wired.com/story/mueller-investigation-trump-russia-complete-guide/" data-vars-content-id="602d2e21-b087-454f-b887-57f2f5b4dc55" data-vars-headline="The 17 known Trump-related investigations" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.wired.com/story/mueller-investigation-trump-russia-complete-guide/" target="_blank">For WIRED</a>, Garrett M. Graff compiled the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="full list" data-vars-click-url="https://www.wired.com/story/mueller-investigation-trump-russia-complete-guide/" data-vars-content-id="602d2e21-b087-454f-b887-57f2f5b4dc55" data-vars-headline="The 17 known Trump-related investigations" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.wired.com/story/mueller-investigation-trump-russia-complete-guide/" target="_blank">full list</a> of 17 known investigations targeting President Trump’s world from various federal, state, and local prosecutors.Be smart: The president should be worried after <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="his Sunday tweet" data-vars-click-url="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1074313153679450113" data-vars-content-id="602d2e21-b087-454f-b887-57f2f5b4dc55" data-vars-headline="The 17 known Trump-related investigations" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1074313153679450113" target="_blank">his Sunday tweet</a> about &quot;rats.&quot; There are known cooperators in almost every single one of these 17 open cases, from Michael Cohen to National Enquirer chief David Pecker to former Manafort aides Sam Patten and Rick Gates, Graff tells Axios readers.

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

Garrett M. Graff — author of a book focused on Mueller, and one of the investigation's best narrators — writes for Axios that we now have a host of new clues to Mueller coming attractions.

What's happening: Michael Cohen's lies to Congress fit an odd pattern. Multiple people in Trump's orbit have outright lied or "forgotten" about a whole variety of contacts with Russian officials, developers, oligarchs, and emissaries. It's a uniquely consistent problem, across many top aides, that only seems to occur when the subject is Russia.

Remember Michael Cohen's two major revelations so far have come in just two, fairly limited, specific episodes, both of which investigative reporters have unearthed ahead of time: Stormy Daniels' hush money payments and the Moscow Trump Tower project. Cohen, though, worked with Trump — on his most sensitive messes — for a decade. What other episodes does he know about that we haven't unearthed yet?

Prosecutors ethically can't let a witness testify or plea to things they don't believe are true. So remember that everything Michael Cohen is saying in court, or pleading guilty to doing on paper, has been combed over for corroboration.

If Cohen is standing up in court and saying Donald Trump ordered him to do something, prosecutors aren't going just off his word. They have independent corroboration. Remember all those emails and telephones seized in the April raid on Cohen's office? We haven't seen any of that come out yet.

Every twist of the investigation shows that Mueller knows far more than we thought he did:

Cohen's plea deal shows he has phone records (hence the 20-minute telephone call to Moscow).

The aborted Jerome Corsi plea agreement shows Mueller has a host of emails.

The fact that Mueller knows Paul Manafort was lying to him likely indicates heretofore unseen corroborating witnesses, documents, and more

Be smart: There's a lot more behind the curtain.

Everyone caught up in the Trump investigations

Mueller's coming attractions

Every twist of the investigation shows that Mueller knows far more than we thought he did.

<a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Garrett M. Graff " data-vars-click-url="https://link.axios.com/click/15264057.222236/aHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0dGVyLmNvbS92ZXJtb250Z21nP3V0bV9zb3VyY2U9bmV3c2xldHRlciZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj1uZXdzbGV0dGVyX2F4aW9zYW0mc3RyZWFtPXRvcA/586d9e571e560373298b467cBb8668483" data-vars-content-id="7c915b66-15cc-4e08-9e23-eebf04f8508f" data-vars-headline="Mueller&#x27;s coming attractions" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://link.axios.com/click/15264057.222236/aHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0dGVyLmNvbS92ZXJtb250Z21nP3V0bV9zb3VyY2U9bmV3c2xldHRlciZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj1uZXdzbGV0dGVyX2F4aW9zYW0mc3RyZWFtPXRvcA/586d9e571e560373298b467cBb8668483" target="_blank">Garrett M. Graff </a>— author of a <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="book" data-vars-click-url="https://link.axios.com/click/15264057.222236/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ2FycmV0dGdyYWZmLmNvbS9ib29rcy90aHJlYXQtbWF0cml4Lz91dG1fc291cmNlPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXImdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249bmV3c2xldHRlcl9heGlvc2FtJnN0cmVhbT10b3A/586d9e571e560373298b467cB96a9177d" data-vars-content-id="7c915b66-15cc-4e08-9e23-eebf04f8508f" data-vars-headline="Mueller&#x27;s coming attractions" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://link.axios.com/click/15264057.222236/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ2FycmV0dGdyYWZmLmNvbS9ib29rcy90aHJlYXQtbWF0cml4Lz91dG1fc291cmNlPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXImdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249bmV3c2xldHRlcl9heGlvc2FtJnN0cmVhbT10b3A/586d9e571e560373298b467cB96a9177d" target="_blank">book</a> focused on Mueller, and one of the investigation&#x27;s best narrators — writes for Axios that we now have a host of new clues to Mueller coming attractions.What&#x27;s happening: Michael Cohen&#x27;s lies to Congress fit an odd pattern. Multiple people in Trump&#x27;s orbit have outright lied or &quot;forgotten&quot; about a whole variety of contacts with Russian officials, developers, oligarchs, and emissaries. It&#x27;s a uniquely consistent problem, across many top aides, that only seems to occur when the subject is Russia.

Garrett M. Graff

Stories

The 17 known Trump-related investigations

Mueller's breadcrumbs suggest he has the goods

Mueller's coming attractions

Signs point to an acceleration of Mueller's endgame