Elie Honig, a former federal and state prosecutor, is a CNN legal analyst and a Rutgers University scholar. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) Few American presidents ever have experienced as much legal turmoil in one year as Donald Trump did in 2018. The past year brought a drumbeat of blockbuster revelations from special counsel Robert Mueller, but 2018 could end up as just a brisk warmup for what's to come in 2019. Buckle up.

As a reminder of just how much has changed, here's what the landscape looked like one year ago today:

-- Trump's former campaign chair Paul Manafort was a free man who had been charged but not convicted of any crime. Now he is a convicted felon who has been in federal prison for six months, and might stay there for the rest of his life.

-- No Russians had been charged with any crime relating to the 2016 election. Since then, Mueller has charged 13 Russian national s for allegedly using social media to conduct "information warfare against the United States" and 12 Russian intelligence officers for allegedly hacking the servers of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and others in an effort to help Trump win the 2016 election.

-- Jeff Session s was attorney general and Don McGahn was White House counsel and the Republicans had a stranglehold on both houses of Congress.

Mueller is far from done. 2019 promises to be another cataclysmic year for Trump and his inner circle. Keeping in mind an immutable truth of this investigation -- Mueller knows more than we do -- here's a look ahead at what to expect.

Sentencings

Several former members of the Trump campaign and administration soon will learn how long they will spend behind bars.

Michael Flynn. Flynn likely walked into court for sentencing in December expecting to leave a free man; --Flynn likely walked into court for sentencing in December expecting to leave a free man; Flynn's own lawyers and Mueller agreed that he deserved a non-incarceratory sentence, given his substantial cooperation with prosecutors. Not so fast. Judge Emmet Sullivan laid into Flynn, rejecting the suggestion that Flynn had been set up by the FBI and wondering aloud if he might have committed treason. Flynn now faces an uncertain future. Judge Sullivan gave Flynn until March 13, 2019 to update the court on his cooperation. The message to Flynn is clear: either prove your worth to Mueller, or you're going to jail.

Who's under scrutiny now

JUST WATCHED Rep. Himes: Concerned about Stone's honesty Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Rep. Himes: Concerned about Stone's honesty 01:57

Jerome Corsi. Corsi also has said --Corsi also has said he expects to be indicted for lying to Mueller or a grand jury about his role as an intermediary between Stone and Wikileaks regarding the publication of hacked e-mails. Corsi steadfastly has denied criminal liability , claiming that Mueller tried to force him to "sign a lie" and defying Mueller to try to "put me in prison the rest of my life." We will learn whether Mueller takes him up on it.

JUST WATCHED Trump Jr.: I'm not worried about going to jail Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump Jr.: I'm not worried about going to jail 01:12

Both Trump Jr. and President Trump have denied any criminal culpability arising from these incidents, but Mueller will have the final say.

Congressional investigations

For Democrats, taking control of the House of Representatives comes with the all-important power to issue subpoenas and conduct investigations. Incoming House committee chairs, including Adam Schiff (Intelligence), Jerry Nadler (Judiciary), Elijah Cummings (Oversight and Government Reform) and others, made no effort to play it cool, publicly announcing their planned Trump-centric investigations the day after midterms, even before all election results had been tallied.

These House investigations would open up a new front, with different rules, for Trump. While Mueller carries plenty of punch, much of his work is done out of public view and subject to strict rules of grand jury secrecy and criminal procedure. The House, however, can hold public hearings, on fairly short notice, with little limitation on substance . The Democrats' hit list includes Russian election interference (though they would be well-advised to steer clear of Mueller's ongoing criminal probe ), Trump's tax returns and personal finances, payments of hush money and the appointment of Whitaker as acting attorney general.

JUST WATCHED Schiff may try to force Mueller report release Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Schiff may try to force Mueller report release 01:26

While House Democrats now wield a powerful new tool, don't expect the White House to accede to every demand from Schiff and company. Trump and his legal team could take various tacks , ranging from challenging the scope and relevance of congressional subpoenas to invoking executive privilege to simply defying Congress. This will not go down without a legal battle.

The Mueller report

The special counsel regulations set out a two-step process for Mueller's final report. First, Mueller must "provide the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the special counsel." The attorney general, in turn, may decide whether and how to release the information in the report, or some portion of it, to Congress and the public.

Further complicating matters is uncertainty about who will be attorney general by the time Mueller issues his report, and whether that person -- Whitaker or Trump's announced nominee, William Barr -- will allow the report to see the light of day.

JUST WATCHED Trump lashed out at Whitaker after Cohen news Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump lashed out at Whitaker after Cohen news 02:41

Mueller plays strictly by the rules, but he is nobody's fool and is unlikely to allow his findings to be improperly suppressed. He already has made public significant details about his investigative findings through his court filings, and he likely will continue to inform the public of his work through indictments, plea agreements, and sentencing memos.