THE TIGHTENING NOOSE:

[T]he one thing that remains clear is just how much Mueller knows: He's uncovered "track changes" in individual Microsoft Word documents, he's referenced what specific words Russian military intelligence officers Googled three years ago, and even what the hired trolls inside the Internet Research Agency were wrote to family members. Long before the House Intelligence Committee today kicked over a few dozen transcripts, Mueller amassed some 290,000 documents from Michael Cohen, tons more from the Trump transition team, and what the White House says is 1.4 million documents it turned over voluntarily, among countless other files, documents, reports, and classified raw intelligence.

Given that foundation of knowledge, it's worth examining some of the "known unknowns," places where Mueller has been silent but where he presumably knows far more than he's chosen to say. To single out just five examples: [...]

Why the "first time"?

In last summer's GRU indictment, Mueller seemed to say more than he needed to--just like he did with "was directed" in the Stone indictment--in pointing out that "on or about July 27, 2016, the Conspirators attempted after hours to spearphish for the first time email accounts at a domain hosted by a third-party provider and used by Clinton's personal office." Mueller doesn't note in the document that this was the same day Trump invited Russia to hack Clinton's email, but in writing about the day Mueller adds two seemingly unnecessary details--first that the GRU did it "after hours," which accounting for the time difference would mean after Trump's campaign trail comments, and second, that the attack on Clinton's email directly was "for the first time," a fact that Mueller would have to prove in a trial, meaning that he has evidence that makes him confident that the action was new in Russia's strategy. 

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