After $17 million spent, Team Mueller does two things well.

1. Generates headlines and profits for the Washington Post and the New York Times

2. Harasses random people linked to Trump with random charges that have nothing to do with the Russian collusion the investigation was based on

The headlines this morning are all about how Team Mueller is taking another whack at Manafort. A guy who has been whacked quite a bit by Team Coup because he had the most exposure. Witness tampering sounds ominous, but like lying to the FBI, another Mueller fave, it’s one of those things that prosecutors can hit you with at their discretion stemming from the investigation.

In other words, it’s much like being arrested for resisting arrest.

The bottom line of all bottom lines is that Team Coup has still failed to deliver on the dubious basis for its dubious investigation. Taking repeated cracks at Manafort may be an effort to turn him into a witness and get him to testify to anything. But it’s also a good distraction. As long as Team Mueller keeps generating headlines, the left and the media assume it’s going to deliver.

And it doesn’t have to face the fact that it may never be able to deliver. That it used the investigation as leverage to try and score a meeting with Trump, and without that meeting, it won’t even have a process charge to hang on him.