POLITICS/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA: “Robert Mueller’s Russia probe isn’t ending any time soon, and that’s bad news for President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans already bracing for a possible 2018 Democratic midterm wave.
While many Republicans insist the Trump-Russia saga is overblown, they worry headlines about federal indictments, high profile trials—and a potential blockbuster meeting between Mueller and Trump himself—could obscure their positive message ahead of November elections and threaten their House and Senate majorities.
In an ominous development for Republicans, a federal judge overseeing the upcoming trial of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates rejected Mueller’s request to begin in May and instead outlined a scheduled start as soon as September or October — peak election season… A second GOP operative active in the midterm elections said there is no ‘good time’ for a public trial of two of the president’s senior campaign officials…
And few observers believe Mueller is finished bringing criminal charges. The special counsel so far has kept under wraps any criminal charges until they’ve been filed, leaving Republicans nervous about the prospect that new indictments could land without warning against top Trump associates just as voters are making their decisions.
Mueller has also told Trump’s attorneys he’s interested in interviewing the president. Though such questioning would not occur in a public setting, it would be an historic event sure to generate blaring headlines.”
-Darren Samuelsohn, “Bad news for GOP: Mueller probe could collide with midterms,” Politico, Jan. 17, 2018 05:01am