With the entire political world laser-focused on the 2018 midterm elections, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation has slipped beneath the radar in recent weeks.
But according to a new report in Vanity Fair, the specter of the investigation is still hanging over the White House.
Gabriel Sherman reported that President Donald Trump's team is fearful that a report from Mueller could come as early as Wednesday — the day after the midterms. Though Mueller's investigation has continued apace behind the scenes, the special prosecutor has respected Justice Department protocol by avoiding any major investigative steps that might affect the election.
Once the election is over, there will be nothing holding him back.
"Sources say besides the president, the ones with the most exposure are Roger Stone and Donald Trump Jr.," Sherman wrote. "'I’m very worried about Don Jr.,' said another former West Wing official who testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The possible exposure would be that Mueller would demonstrate that Don Jr. perjured himself to investigators when he said he didn’t tell his father beforehand about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting to gather 'dirt' on Hillary Clinton."
Sherman also notes that Rudy Giuliani has been conspicuously absent from cable news in recent weeks. He reports that one source said Trump told Giuliani to stay away during the run-up to the election — presumably to avoid focusing the nation's attention on the Russia issue.
If Mueller does celebrate the end of the midterm campaigns with a new investigative salvo, there's no telling what could happen. Trump might even try to preempt any such move by firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions and perhaps even Mueller himself. What happens thereafter could be determined by Congress — and its fate is in the voters' hands on Tuesday.
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