The Wall Street Journal reported this evening that former FBI director and special prosecutor Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury in Washington D.C.
The grand jury was reportedly formed in "recent weeks" and it should not be confused with a separate grand jury impaneled to investigate former Trump adviser Michael Flynn.
“This is yet a further sign that there is a long-term, large-scale series of prosecutions being contemplated and being pursued by the special counsel,” said Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas. “If there was already a grand jury in Alexandria looking at Flynn, there would be no need to reinvent the wheel for the same guy. This suggests that the investigation is bigger and wider than Flynn, perhaps substantially so.”
Very shortly after the Wall Street Journal reported that Mueller had impaneled a second grand jury, CNN reported that Mueller's investigation is currently focused on financial crimes and using that to gain cooperation.
Sources described an investigation that has widened to focus on possible financial crimes, some unconnected to the 2016 elections, alongside the ongoing scrutiny of possible illegal coordination with Russian spy agencies and alleged attempts by President Donald Trump and others to obstruct the FBI investigation. Even investigative leads that have nothing to do with Russia but involve Trump associates are being referred to the special counsel to encourage subjects of the investigation to cooperate, according to two law enforcement sources.
The implication that I draw from this is that there are people close to Trump who've committed crimes (shocking!) and those crimes are being held over them for leverage. If that's the case, and if this report is accurate, it would mean Mueller's team has already uncovered crimes and is chasing bigger fish.