While all of the heat and light when it comes to the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller is focused on the question of whether or not members of the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to assure that Trump was elected, now that we’re in a new year it pays to reflect on what else the Mueller team may be looking at.

Tony Schwartz, the ghostwriter of Trump’s book The Art of the Deal, has been speaking out for months now and reminding us all that Russia is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to possible criminal activity by Trump:

“Mueller’s findings will be devastating to the Trump presidency and far beyond what most people currently imagine. Trump has a terrible past.”

Think, for just a moment, what all that could encompass:

• Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was indicted for money laundering. Trump’s business, real estate, is known to be rife with funding that comes from questionable, even illegal sources. There’s a very high probability that Trump will also be charged with money laundering.
• Does Trump pay taxes? Since he refuses to release his tax returns, we have no way of knowing for sure. But why would he constantly be under audit, as he maintains? Could it be because he’s involved in massive tax evasion against the United States and other countries where he’s incorporated? Tax evasion is how the feds finally brought down Al Capone.
• It has long been believed that Trump has numerous ties to organized crime. If he has been laundering money for Russian entities, he may have ties to Russian mobsters, along with the more well-known Sicilian variety who are known to control the construction business and unions in New York. That would mean Trump is involved in racketeering and could be prosecuted under federal RICO statutes.

That’s just three possible crimes that Trump could be charged with. There are probably more, and those will come out in due time when all of the indictments are finally unsealed in federal court.

If it cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump was directly involved in the Russian conspiracy, that’s only the beginning of his problems. No wonder he’s so terrified of Robert Mueller; he’s got a lot to hide.