Deputy Attorney General for the Department of Justice, Rod Rosenstein named special prosecutor Robert Mueller to handle the investigation on possible collusion between the Trump campaign, the administration and members of both with Russian officials. Under the regulations for the effort, Rosenstein would be notified of any charges against suspects in the investigation. As of Friday, CNN reported that the federal grand jury in Washington, DC had approved the first set of charges.

Paul Manafort first to be charged?

They've reported that a federal judge ordered that those charges be sealed and so it's unknown just what they are.

But, CNN's sources have said that those charged are likely to be taken into custody as early as Monday. The report says that there was a flurry of activity in the grand jury room on Friday, but that no officials have made any announcements. So far, Mueller's team raided one of the homes of former Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort, saying that they planned to indict him.

Reports that circulated about the investigation had specifically focused on Paul Manafort and potential money laundering. So much so that in fact, the Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday that Mueller's team was working with the Southern District of New York's US attorney's office, to further their investigation. The WSJ said that the probe included Andrew Goldstein who is the head of the public corruption unit for that office and Paul Monteleoni, Assistant US Attorney.

It appears that the investigation Mueller is working on over Manafort is the continuation of one that has spanned over 11-years. In some cases and in recent months, it was determined that Manafort might have refused to cooperate with investigators. Nonetheless, Mueller's team seemed to have reason to believe that Manafort would not cooperate and were forced to issue subpoenas to him and some of his associates.

As a result, the FBI felt that a raid was necessary to make sure he turned over everything

Shielded from presidential pardons

Mueller teamed up with the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in August, which would suggest to many that charges that come out of these investigations would be out of reach for presidential pardons.

This is because pardons could only be applied to federal crimes. Such was the case with former Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio who was charged by a federal judge of being in contempt of court.

He was to be jailed in October but President Trump used his presidential powers to pardon him. The pardon appeared to send a signal all around that the President might use it again in order to prevent members of the Trump campaign from being charged. The suggestion now is that with charges in the investigation coming out of Schneiderman's office, they could not only be used against Manafort but other Trump campaign members that the President might have been wanting to pardon.
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