UPDATED: Arrests Monday! Or Maybe Tuesday! Or ...

So Lindsey Graham went on with Judge Jeanine last night, and here's what he had to say:

LINDSEY GRAHAM: The Russia investigation, what happened? Half the people behind the Russia investigation are gonna go to jail and Trump was cleared. Hang tight! They come after Trump on Ukraine, and BIDEN blows up! So every time they throw a rock at Trump, THEY get hit. 

So here's what we should look at. Why did the State Department not act when they were told about the conflict of interest with Hunter Biden regarding the Ukraine, right? Who was the "whistleblower"? Does he have contacts on Schiff's staff? Did Colonel Vindman leak information to the "whistleblower"? And as to the FISA warrant, how could you sign the warrant four times and not know the whole thing was off the rails? That's where I come in. 

JUDGE JEANINE: OK, so you're gonna do something. Cuz even the head of the FISA court said it was wrong ... 

LINDSEY GRAHAM: Stay tuned. 

JUDGE JEANINE: ... it was not predicated on probable cause. You know the whole thing. So you're gonna do something. Wanna tell us what you're gonna do? 

LINDSEY GRAHAM: Yeah, I'm gonna give a list of witnesses to the Department of Justice that I wanna call. It's gonna be the Case Agent. I wanna find out how this thing got so screwed up. Why didn't they tell about the Russian source who said, 'The dossier's not reliable,' how could it be possible that it never goes up to the top [to Loretta Lynch]? I don't believe--I wanna know what Obama knew about this investigation. I wanna call Rosenstein, Sally Yates, Comey and McCabe, and all the people who worked on this case to find out how it got so off the rails and make sure it never happens again. And I wanna know who in the White House knew about this counterintelligence investigation against the Republican nominee.

Sounds good! Call the case agent, Rosenstein, Sally Yates, Comey and McCabe, and all the people who worked on the Russia Hoax. Where was Loretta during all this? Shoot, call Obama, too!


I guess we've heard this sorta stuff from Lindsey before, right? However, this time it's getting pretty specific--more specific than Lindsey's past expressions of outrage. I like from the first part where he asks the really obvious question: Did Colonel Vindman leak information to the "whistleblower"? That's a pretty specific question, and I think we all know the answer: Yes. I'm not totally clear if violating "need to know" principles is a prosecutable crime, but in the total conspiratorial context it might be. Ultimately I guess Barr/Durham make that call.

Lindsey says he has a role in all this, especially with regard to FISA. Maybe. Maybe that's part of his re-election strategy.

But now Greg Rubini is saying--arrests are coming soon. Maybe Monday or Tuesday. But maybe not. But Strzok and McCabe will be the first to be arrested. How does he know? You tell me:

the first to be arrested will be McCabe & Strzok.
maybe as early as Monday or Tuesday next week.

I do think it will happen. Barr said major developments (or words so close in meaning as not to matter) will come in late spring or early summer, but what that will be depends on your definition of "major." Could things start happening sooner? Yes, if the major developments coming later include bigger fish than Strzok and McCabe.

We'll find out. I promise nothing, but I'm mildly impressed with Graham's specificity.

UPDATE 1: OK, here's a possible rationale for Barr deciding to act now. According to the NYT:

A handful of Republican senators tried to stop President Trump from firing Gordon D. Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union who testified in the House impeachment hearings, but the president relieved the diplomat of his post anyway, according to people briefed on the discussions. 

The senators were concerned that it would look bad for Mr. Trump to dismiss Mr. Sondland and argued that it was unnecessary, since the ambassador was already talking with senior officials about leaving after the Senate trial, the people said. The senators told White House officials that Mr. Sondland should be allowed to depart on his own terms, which would have reduced any political backlash. 

Some of these witnesses may begin to speak out. Mr. Taylor has given a series of news media interviews in recent days. And Ms. Yovanovitch has enlisted the Javelin literary agency, picking the same agents who represent John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, among others.

So, nothing like an arrest or two to change the topic of discussion--if it's been determined that the bigger case isn't going to be compromised.

UPDATE 2: Did anyone else notice that Lindsey didn't mention calling Dana Boente as a witness? Did Barr tell him to take that name off the list, since Boente is cooperating? Just wondering.