According to sources - Mueller is going to: charge someone with something sometime next week

So sources are saying that Robert Mueller will be charging a person (or persons) with a crime, but nobody knows who, what for, or even when. Most people say the smart money is with Paul Manafort, although the Manafort attorneys are denying that they have received any notification of any indictment. Not sure how that protocol goes, but one would believe that a professional investigator would call the attorneys of the person they are charging, before calling CNN. At least if they want their investigation to be taken seriously.

Most legal experts have expected the first charges to be something that is not "directly" related to Russian interference... mainly because there are not a lot of laws that make it illegal to talk to Russians, or work with Russians, or do business with Russians. Most are expecting something such as money laundering, criminal omission of information on security forms, or even perjury. Manafort has been previously accused of, but never charged for, a variety of money laundering schemes having to do with foreign officials. Mike Flynn (and others) have been accuse of non-disclosure of international ties on his security forms.

Obviously the timing seems odd (for a variety of reasons).

• First are the reports that Mueller has been settling in for the "long haul" and some people have expected for him to keep up the probe well into 2018 and possibly longer. Generally bringing charges happens closer to the end (rather than closer to the beginning) of an investigation. That being said, if the charges are something "unrelated" as speculated, then they could simply be a leverage thing.
• Secondly, the timing also coincides with the reports that Mueller and gang have been most recently interviewing some new players (including lobbyist Tony Podesta) suggesting that their focus has been on situations and events that took place long before the 2016 election rather than specifically on Trump and his team. Is it just a coincidence that the focus has been altered just prior to choosing to charge someone with something?  
• Lastly, the timing might appear to be a "reaction" to heavy criticism of the Mueller investigation, and the calls by many that he should step aside due to his own possible involvement in FBI cover ups surrounding allegations of criminal actions (bribery and kickbacks) as it relates to member of the Obama Administration and Russian players. If the charges don't appear to be founded on "recent discovery" - then that argument can probably  be made without much challenge. 

At this point, assuming Mueller is the professional many claim him to be,  then Occam's razor suggests that the charges will likely not be the start of any "end game" as some are speculating and that they may be reliant on information gathered from their most recent contacts (most likely something like money laundering).  Of course, if you believe Mueller is a thin skinned egotistical partisan with an ax to grind, then Occam's razor suggests that he is making a politically timed power play in reaction to recent criticism (then the charges could be any number of things).