Special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe has been firing on all cylinders since late November — and looks poised to keep up the pace this week.
Key legal moves are scheduled in cases involving at least three central figures in the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign and possible obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump.
The recent disclosures in Mueller's cases have intensified questions about whether House Democrats plan to draft articles of impeachment against Trump in the next Congress, whether the president might exercise his pardon power for some of Mueller's targets or even if he faces legal risks himself.
Here's what's coming up this week.
Manafort's rebuttal
On Tuesday, attorneys for Paul Manafort are scheduled to respond in court to Mueller's accusation that the former Trump campaign chairman breached his plea deal by lying to investigators.
Manafort, 69, signed that deal in September, admitting guilt on conspiracy charges stemming from work he did for a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine years earlier. The deal came less than a month after Manafort was convicted on eight criminal counts lodged by Mueller in a separate trial in Virginia federal court.
As part of the agreement, Manafort promised to fully and truthfully cooperate with the investigators. But on Nov. 26, Mueller rescinded the deal, alleging that the former Trump campaign boss committed "crimes and lies" after signing the plea bargain. Manafort, however, said he had "provided truthful information," according to the filing.
In a heavily redacted filing Friday, Mueller laid out five lies Manafort is alleged to have told. The statements are related to contacts with individuals in the Trump administration at the time they worked there; a meeting with suspected Russian spy Konstantin Kilimnik; a wire transfer to a firm working for Manafort; and inconsistent information he told Justice Department investigators in another district.
Manafort's lawyers will have an opportunity to push back on the special counsel's allegations in court in Washington at 3 p.m. ET Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson. But Mueller already warned in the Friday filing that "if the defendant contends the government has not acted in good faith, the government is available to prove the false statements at a hearing."
Manafort's sentencing date is scheduled for March 5.
Trump said in a recent New York Post interview that he "wouldn't take" a possible pardon for Manafort "off the table." He said Manafort, and two other people in Mueller's sights, were "very brave" and claimed Mueller has pressured them to lie.
Cohen's Sentencing
Then on Wednesday, Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, finds out his sentence for his guilty pleas to charges brought by Mueller and federal prosecutors in New York.
Cohen pleaded guilty in August to campaign-finance charges brought by the prosecutors; in late November, he returned to the same federal courthouse in New York to admit to a charge of lying to Congress brought by Mueller.
Defense lawyers had asked Judge William Pauley not to send him to jail. They argued that Cohen's cooperation with investigators demonstrated his decision to change his life for the sake of his country and family.
But that argument received a blistering rebuke from federal prosecutors in their sentencing memo Friday. They called for the judge to impose a "substantial term of imprisonment," citing guidelines of 51 to 63 months in prison.
Cohen's crimes, specifically his involvement in payments made in 2016 to two women who claim they had affairs with Trump, were intended "to influence the election from the shadows," prosecutors said.
They added: "He did so by orchestrating secret and illegal payments to silence two women who otherwise would have made public their alleged extramarital affairs" with Trump, who is referred to as "Individual-1." The White House denies the allegations.
The special counsel's office took a softer tone in its sentencing document filed minutes later. It said Cohen, 52, had given the special counsel "relevant and useful information" about contacts with people connected to the White House. The special counsel team also said Cohen gave Mueller "information about attempts by other Russian nationals" to contact the Trump campaign as far back as November 2015.
The special counsel did not provide a suggested sentence for Cohen's charge of lying to Congress about a proposal to build a Trump Tower development in Moscow. But they added that any sentence should be concurrent with the charges brought by the New York federal prosecutors. Cohen had told U.S. lawmakers in August 2017 that the Moscow project ended in January 2016. But the special counsel said Cohen's discussions about the proposal had continued as late as June 2016 — only five months before the election.
Michael Flynn
Court deadlines in the case of former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn are also coming due this week.
Mueller said in a filing in D.C. federal court last week that Flynn's "substantial assistance" over 19 interviews with Mueller's team and Justice Department attorneys warrants a light criminal sentence, and possibly no jail time.
Flynn, 60, pleaded guilty in December 2017 to Mueller's charge that he lied to the FBI about his contacts with then-Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak. Flynn spoke to Kislyak during the presidential transition period about sanctions imposed on Russia by President Barack Obama in December 2016, in retaliation for that country's attempts to interfere in the presidential election.
Flynn's attorneys will file their sentencing document on Tuesday, giving Mueller until Friday to respond. Flynn's sentencing date is set for next Tuesday.
Other cases
Outside of the charges lodged by the special counsel, other Russia- and Mueller-related cases loom large.
On Sunday night, right-wing conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi filed a federal lawsuit in D.C. accusing the special counsel of illegally searching his phone records and leaking grand jury information. He is demanding damages totaling $350 million from Mueller and other agencies, including the CIA and the FBI.
Corsi, 72, recently said he had rejected a plea deal offer from Mueller's team. He has claimed that investigators tried to coerce him into lying about his knowledge of whistleblower site WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. The site, led by Julian Assange, published thousands of Democratic National Committee emails that U.S. intelligence officials have concluded were stolen by Russian sources.
Corsi has denied that he knew ahead of time about WikiLeaks' plans to publish the emails.
A draft court filing, which was reportedly prepared by Mueller's team before plea deal negotiations with Corsi were scrapped, showed emails sent by Corsi to longtime Trump confidant and Infowars colleague Roger Stone about WikiLeaks.
On Monday, gun activist and alleged Russian agent Maria Butina filed a joint motion with federal prosecutors to change her not-guilty plea in her ongoing case.
A plea agreement hearing has been set in D.C. federal court for 3:15 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
Butina, 30, is charged with conspiracy and failing to register as a foreign agent. She is a accused of plotting with her former boss to infiltrate American political organizations, including the National Rifle Association, to promote Russia's agenda.
--CNBC's Dan Mangan contributed to this report.
