Bad news for GOP: Mueller probe could collide with midterms

[DonViejo]

Campaign stink bombs loom as judge signals possible September start for Manafort-Gates trial.

By DARREN SAMUELSOHN 01/17/2018 05:01 AM EST

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.

“The timing of the Manafort-Gates trial will dictate major coverage going into early voting,” said veteran Republican strategist John Weaver. “And this is without knowing for certain how many more indictments and how much closer this Siberian political cancer gets near the Oval Office.”

“It’s mood music that doesn’t help,” agreed a senior Republican campaign strategist working on several midterm races. “Every day the party is talking about this investigation is a day they’re not talking about the economy and the tax cuts they provided and jobs and things that are successfully happening.”

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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/17/republicans-mueller-midterms-russia-probe-341592

[unblock]

1. "could obscure their positive message"?

would that be their positively racist message?

or their positively unethical message?

or their positively divisive message?

or their positively sexist message?

or their positively greedy message?

[dem4decades]

2. Wouldn't that be fitting.

How do you feel about that Mr. Comey?

I hope your still nauseous.

[NCTraveler]

3. See how they like it when the FBI causes a stink a week before the elections. nt.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

4. Positive Republican message?

Surely they jest as Trump sinks deeper in the Russia quagmire.