The Washington Post broke the story, but since WaPo lives behind its paywall, it gets no link love. New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. has impaneled a special grand jury, as distinguished from the ordinary grand jury panels which deal with ordinary cases, directed specifically on something to do with Trump.

What that may be remains unclear, but the fact that Cy chose to announce that he was impaneling a grand jury, as opposed to announcing that a grand jury returned an indictment against, well, some entity, is a curious play. It comes on top of NY’s intrepid press-conference holder, Letitia James’ announcement that her office will be working with Cy’s office.

And, as anticipated, speculation went wild.

Patrick Cotter, a former federal prosecutor who oversaw organized crime investigations, said the involvement of a local grand jury suggests that an indictment is “highly likely.”

“My guess… is that Vance feels he has the evidence to get an indictment and is in a hurry to get it presented so he can get the indictment voted and filed,” Cotter said.

“That will take some time, and there is other work needed to finalize an indictment, but I imagine that an indictment is essentially imminent.”

Sure, it’s not a federal case. No, Cotter was never a prosecutor in New York County. Yes, it’s his “guess.” It doesn’t get more reliable than that, right? But wait!

However, Bradley P. Moss, a national security lawyer, underscored that there remain a number of unknowns about any potential case.

“We do not know how expansive the New York investigation is right now, nor do we know if Vance is simply using the grand jury process as a vehicle to get access to more information or, alternatively, planning to bring actual charges before it for consideration,” he said.

“Plus, if Vance does intend to seek an indictment against Trump or the kids, it is likely that will be the last step taken, and only after he has first rolled up cooperating witnesses like Weisselberg,” Moss added.

Naturally, Trump says this is all political, because what else would he say? And, no doubt, it is to some significant extent, as whatever was going on in Trump Tower(s) was likely happening for decades, even while he pretending to be a real estate tycoon on television, and yet nobody was investigating Trump steaks, ties, university, charity or tax returns. Then again, force yourself onto prosecutors’ radar and bad things happen. Even if there is a heavy dose of political animus involved, it doesn’t mean there are no crimes to be found.

It would come as no surprise to learn that Trump’s CFO, Allen Weisselberg, is the first target to get him to flip. It’s a common, and effective, weapon in the prosecutor’s arsenal. Unlike Trump’s former lawyer turned rat, Michael Cohen, Weisselberg has no confidentiality concerns and the prosecutors have no privilege problems to contend with. A CFO has no duty to maintain confidences. Just the opposite.

So what does this all mean? Former actual Manhattan ADA, now prawf, Rebecca Roiphe, sees this as the start of an actual presentment.

They've been issuing subpoenas for quite awhile. I think this means they are actually presenting evidence. At least that's how I read the information that I was given.

— Rebecca Roiphe (@rroiphe) May 25, 2021

She’s probably right (and unlike others, has some actual knowledge and experience in the office), and that’s pretty much the reason to convene a special grand jury for the sole purpose of hearing evidence about Trump. But what evidence that is, who are the targets of the grand jury, and will this ultimately touch the big guy himself is still unknown. It could happen in days, weeks, years or never. It could be Weisselberg or the Trump Organization, or it could be his foundation or any of his subsidiary businesses, dead or alive.

What we know now is essentially nothing more than something is happening, and we have no clue what that something actually is. We don’t know who its targets are. We don’t know when it will come to fruition or, if it does, how sexy the indictment might be. Yet here we are, speculating our butts off about how we finally, finally, are going to “get him.”

David Weinstein, a former Miami federal prosecutor, said the reported involvement of a Manhattan grand jury is no more ominous than that announcement from James.

“This just means that Vance is moving forward,” Weinstein said. “He is presenting the evidence that he has collected to the grand jury, he will be calling witnesses to testify and that at some point before his term, as well as the term of the special grand jury, expires he will be presenting a proposed indictment for their consideration.”

Granted, the grand jury is where Sol’s ham sandwich got nailed, but beyond that, we know nothing. If it had been someone, some entity, less despised, perhaps the announcement of convening a special grand jury would be met with cries that it was irresponsible to deliberately taint a presumptively innocent person, business, family, by suggesting that the evidence was sufficiently certain that it was worthy of a special grand jury. There are absolutely no legal consequences to a grand jury being impaneled, and there is minimal significance to an indictment being returned. Probable cause isn’t exactly a high bar.

Has anyone called Cy irresponsible for floating his special grand jury in the media? Has Tish been castigated for her role in tainting people or entities which have yet to be charged with any crime whatsoever? They certainly knew this would inflame the public and pundits, and set off a round of speculation about how the Marshal of the Supreme Court was on his way to arrest Trump at this very moment (sorry, Louise).

But here’s what we know for sure. No charges have been filed. No indictment has been returned. The presumption of innocence remains intact for every member of the Trump family and organization and will stay intact until such time as a plea or verdict of guilty occurs. Even vulgar, amoral, narcissistic ignoramuses are entitled to the presumption of innocence, no matter what the district attorney announces.