The investigation into the FBI’s Trump-Russia inquiry could provide a late summer boost to President Trump’s reelection chances, energizing his base and bolstering attacks on Joe Biden, according to Trump allies and Republican strategists.
John Durham, the U.S. attorney leading the inquiry, is expected to release his findings by the end of the summer and announce whether he will charge anyone with crimes.
It follows a drip, drip, drip of declassified documents that Republicans say undercut the basis of federal inquiries into Trump campaign collusion with Russia and comes amid mounting expectation in the White House that it will conclude with prosecutions.
Michael Johns, a Tea Party founder, said its biggest impact would come if the findings connected presumptive Democratic nominee Biden with decisions setting up the Russia investigation, such as probing Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s contacts with Russian officials.
“There’s lots of indications that he was involved in many of those discussions,” Johns said. “To the extent he was involved in behavior that was considered at the very least unethical, if not criminal, that would reflect very detrimentally on his candidacy.”
On the other hand, whatever Durham does might barely register with a jaded electorate.
But John Feehery, veteran Republican strategist, said it might not move the election needle, even if it proved the Trump theory of a setup.
“The Left will be energized against Durham, the Right will be energized for him, and most people in the middle will be more interested in COVID and their families going back to work,” he said.
So we catch Obama & Biden, not to even mention the rest of their crew, SPYING on my campaign, AND NOTHING HAPPENS? I hope not! If it were the other way around, 50 years for treason. NEVER FORGET!!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2020
Durham was appointed by Attorney General William Barr last year to examine the origins of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into the Trump-Russia inquiry.
Democrats see the investigation as a partisan effort to damage Trump’s rivals ahead of November’s election.
Last week, the Justice Department announced that its findings are likely to be published by the end of the summer.
Although no names have been released, Republicans are gunning for former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. It’s not clear that anyone that senior will be charged.
On Sunday, Trump’s chief of staff said charges were likely.
“I think the American people are expecting indictments,” he told Fox News. “I know I expect indictments based on the evidence I’ve seen.”
Trump himself raised the subject on Sunday after playing golf with Sen. Lindsey Graham, who helped release declassified documents from the investigation on Friday.
“So we catch Obama & Biden, not to even mention the rest of their crew, SPYING on my campaign, AND NOTHING HAPPENS? I hope not,” Trump tweeted. “If it were the other way around, 50 years for treason. NEVER FORGET!!!!”
His campaign is ready to weaponize the issue.
“The president’s campaign will never be shy about reminding Americans that the Russia collusion hoax was a complete set-up based on lies that dragged the entire country through two years of nonsense,” said campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh. “It was a coordinated effort, pushed by the previous administration and then-Vice President Joe Biden, to kneecap the Trump administration before it ever took office.”
However, a Republican strategist said that attacks on Biden could not make up a complete election agenda.
“One of the problems the campaign has had is getting dirt to stick to Biden. This could help,” he said. “But it doesn’t change the central problem, which is that they don’t seem to know what they are selling. They don’t have clear policy pillars and proposals for what Trump is offering for the next four years.”
However, Trump allies believe the issue will move people in the same way as 2016 when a swath of voters expressed frustration at the way Washington insiders such as Hillary Clinton seemed immune to the law.
Days before the election, Comey announced he was resuming the investigation into her emails, in a move that many believe had a decisive impact on the election.
Rush Limbaugh told listeners to his radio show recently that releasing the Durham report would force the issue into the news.
“The Durham report is crucial in simple terms of educating the portion of the country that only watches mainstream media about what really happened,” he said.
Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee and a dogged Trump defender, last week told Fox Business: “The No. 1 question I get, whether I’m in the 4th District of Ohio or traveling around our state or traveling around the country, the No. 1 question I get from people is, they will walk up to me and says, ‘when is somebody going to jail?’”
