10 of the most inspirational political events of 2018

7. Mueller made serious progress in his investigation

Often, over the course of Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation, people have gotten frustrated. Mueller was appointed to look into possible collusion between members of Trump’s 2016 election campaign and members of the Russian government. Mueller was also tasked with following up on any crimes that may be uncovered by the investigation, regardless of whether or not they were associated with Russian agents attempting to influence U.S. elections.

Many have hoped that Mueller and his team would uncover explosive evidence leading to the impeachment and removal from office of Donald Trump. Clearly, that has not happened, but such hopes aren’t quite in line with how an investigation like this should work. Mueller, who is a former Director of the FBI and a seasoned federal attorney, apparently knows that this requires methodical work with ironclad proof. That meant that, for all that people may want dramatic news stories, Mueller’s investigators have said as little as possible.

Now, it seems, things are starting to heat up. That’s not to say that everything is out in the open. Recent court filings and recommendations to judges by Mueller are full of redacted, blacked-out information. Indeed, we may never hear of some of the things uncovered by the investigation, if specific cases never go to trial. But there are a few heartening things to show that justice may actually be served in this case.

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was indicted by Mueller’s team and arrested by the FBI in late 2017, on charges of fraud and money laundering. He was put on house arrest and repeatedly denied charges. However, Manafort ultimately entered a guilty plea for most of his charges in September 2018, by which time he had already been in jail for weeks.

Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, was also under investigation for his role in potential campaign finance violations. He surrendered to authorities in August and has reportedly been cooperating with Mueller’s team in an attempt to lessen his sentence. Given that Mueller has recommended Cohen skip jail entirely thanks to his cooperation, speculation runs high that Cohen has handed over some serious information to Mueller’s team.