I don’t know about you, but I am finding the first (and hopefully only) term of the Trump administration to be an interminably unpleasant experience. That’s why I take my pleasures wherever I can find them, and the prospect of seeing Rudy “Hand Grenade” Giuliani locked up in a federal prison along with Paul Manafort and Roger Stone is pretty high up on my wish list. If the Wall Street Journal is correct, I may soon be quite a bit happier than I am today.

In recent weeks, prosecutors have sent subpoenas and other requests to potential witnesses seeking records and information related to Mr. Giuliani and two of his associates, according to the people. The investigation, led by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has already led to campaign-finance charges against the associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.

The subpoenas offer the clearest indication yet that federal prosecutors are examining Mr. Giuliani’s consulting work. Among the entities named in the subpoenas are Giuliani Partners, a security-consulting firm founded by Mr. Giuliani in 2002 that had multiple foreign clients, including a city in Ukraine. The subpoenas also sought information on a company co-founded by Mr. Parnas that paid Mr. Giuliani for business and legal advice.

Subpoenas described to The Wall Street Journal listed more than a half dozen potential charges under consideration: obstruction of justice, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, making false statements to the federal government, serving as an agent of a foreign government without registering with the Justice Department, donating funds from foreign nationals, making contributions in the name of another person or allowing someone else to use one’s name to make a contribution, along with mail fraud and wire fraud.

Now, you might think that Trump could see what is coming and that he might start creating some distance between himself and his personal lawyer/errand boy. Yet, based on Trump’s comments from the White House today, that process has not yet begun.

During a White House meeting with visiting Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Trump continued to defend Giuliani and take shots at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Trump described Giuliani, a former mayor of New York who is heavily enmeshed in the Ukraine controversy, as “a great guy.”

“Rudy is the best mayor in the history of New York,” Trump told reporters, as Borissov looked on. “Rudy is a great crime fighter, corruption fighter.”

Trump said the media was not treating Giuliani fairly.

The president was responding to a question from the media about Giuliani’s insistence that Trump will never throw him under the bus because he has “insurance.” Trump tried to wave that inquiry away by saying Rudy had already addressed it, and then he launched into the  “great crime fighter” rhetoric cited above. It makes me wonder if Giuliani is in possession of the pee tape.

It looks like he’s going to need it.

Investigators have sought information from prospective witnesses about Messrs. [Lev] Parnas’s and [Igor] Fruman’s political and business activities, and how they intersected with the Trump administration and Mr. Giuliani’s work, according to the people familiar with the investigation.

The subpoenas also sought materials related to America First Action and America First Policies, two pro-Trump groups. Kelly Sadler, a spokeswoman for the groups, said the organizations contacted the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office last month and offered to cooperate. She said neither group received a subpoena.

Prosecutors alleged in the indictment last month that Messrs. Fruman and Parnas concealed the true source of a $325,000 donation to America First Action by listing it as a gift from an energy company they had recently founded.

At least for now, Attorney General William Barr seems unable to control the prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. And if he doesn’t find a way to stop them, they’re going to roll up the whole administration like a Persian rug.