Thread by @jedshug

I think these three events are connected:
1. Cohen's cooperation with Mueller, "focused primarily on all aspects of Trump's dealings with Russia" and Ukraine
2. Manafort's cooperation deal
3. The scheduling of Flynn's sentencing in December.
abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/m…

2/ I agree with @Mimirocah1 @danielsgoldman & other former prosecutors:
Scheduling of Flynn's sentencing probably means they are satisfied with his cooperation AND they probably have corroborated enough of his grand jury testimony. But I had a lingering questions about that...

3/ Former prosecutors were making this connection based on Flynn + Manafort.
But I had a question: One of Flynn's key links to collusion is Dec 2016, according to @emptywheel.
But Manafort was gone by Aug. (even if he remotely continued with shady access w/ the Chicago banker).

4/ Manafort could have corroborated some of Flynn's information, but not the key events of Dec-Jan 2016. And Manafort also joined too late, too (March-April).
But this Cohen story might help: he can corroborate more before and after Manafort, even if he wasn't in loop in Dec.

5/ Maybe Cohen gives this stool a third leg (w/Flynn and Manafort), and also a longer timeline:
From long before the campaign, up to Flynn and then Manafort joining, and then some link to corruption after Manafort left.
That might help explain why they're ready to sentence Flynn.

6/ Cohen was not in inner circle Nov 2016 through Jan 2017, but perhaps Flynn has given enough hard evidence of his conspiracy, and Cohen helps fill in the background and contacts to link Trump more directly to Flynn's Russian conspirators.

7/ I was skeptical when Comey said yesterday he thinks Mueller may be in “the fourth quarter." Too many moving parts, too many new leads.
But I am a bit less skeptical today, esp. if Cohen has roped in Trump Org's CFO Alan Weisselberg.
H/t @politicalwire politicalwire.com/2018/09/19/com…