Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., warned Wednesday that special counsel Robert Mueller should not make any announcements leading up to the 2018 midterms that could influence the outcome of the elections.
“I believe it is important that the special counsel avoid any major announcements in the weeks before, the months before, the midterm elections. And I fully expect [Mueller] to follow that practice,” Coons told CNN Wednesday morning.
Coons said Mueller should be careful not to repeat the mistakes former FBI Director James Comey made when he announced he was reopening an investigation into former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s emails only a few days before the 2016 general election, which many say was a factor in her loss.
[Hillary Clinton blames Comey and WikiLeaks as ‘determinative’ factors behind her 2016 loss]
“It is a long-standing Department of Justice policy to not make major announcements around investigations in a way that might influence an election,” Coons said. He said he would hope any major announcements from the special counsel would come out in the next two months and then remain silent until after the elections.
