CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin:

“Today is the first day I thought Donald Trump might not finish his term in office.”

“When do Republicans start to turn on Trump? Because that’s the only thing that is going to get Trump out of office. It’s not going to be Democrats. And it’s certainly not now, but there may be a point where it’s too much.”

With Trump’s longtime personal lawyer (read: fixer) Michael Cohen pleading guilty to lying to Congress about Trump Tower Moscow negotiations we now can see how the conspiracy is taking shape. It has been obvious for a while that Trump is compromised somehow by Vladimir Putin and Russia. It isn’t going to be the infamous pee tape. It’s going to be money. That’s the motive. Trump and the Trump family saw a way to make money in Russia. The way to make money in Russia is through Putin and it explains why he’s been so congenial to Putin. The leverage that Putin and Russia has over Trump and his associates is going to come to light.

It ties in with Kushner wanting some sort of secret way to communicate with Russia that was found out early in the investigation. It ties in with the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians. It ties to the possible coordination between Russia, Wikileaks/Julian Assange, and the Trump Campaign.

Maybe, just maybe, if this all comes to light in a comprehensive report that can be summed up in a headline/tagline/bumper sticker that Democrats hammer the media with… something like, “Trump is a Crook,” it might motivate the 30 or 40 or so Senators to come in a bipartisan fashion to ask Trump to resign or be impeached a la Nixon.

Honestly, I don’t see it happening. It’s far more likely Trump is the Republican nominee for President in 2020, loses, and then has to be forcibly removed in January 2021.

Watching this unfold in real time is maddeningly slow.