Senate Republicans are concerned that the guilty plea by Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, and conviction of Paul Manafort, the president’s former campaign head, are creating yet another distraction from their messages on the economy and other perceived successes ahead of the midterm elections.
Republicans have been itching to talk about the economy and their tax reform package ahead of the 2018 midterm elections in November, but have been repeatedly tripped up by other issues in recent months.
“I think it will be one more problem we face in the midterms,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “It’s just another thing to talk about other than the economy and how well things are going. It’s hard to talk about [Supreme Court nominee Brett] Kavanaugh now in terms of the impact he’ll have on the court as a conservative.”
“It’s just drama away from the agenda that most of us have signed up for and are actually executing,” Graham added.
[Opinion: Democrats are overreacting to the Michael Cohen guilty plea]
Senate Republicans would prefer to talk about almost anything else at this moment, particularly the ongoing work in the chamber that’s not getting anywhere near the lion’s share of attention, including the appropriations bills being passed as part of the so-called “minibus” to fund the government ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline. But navigating current media coverage of Cohen and Manafort, they admit, is a tough mountain to climb.
“It’s always difficult to get the message out that you want to get out when there’s other items taking front-and-center, and lets face it — this is taking front-and-center of the issues there,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D. “All the major news networks are talking about it. The reality is we’re trying to get our job done. … I know that’s not getting a lot of attention, but hopefully it will at some point.”
Republicans are hoping and praying that the Cohen situation will follow the same pattern as many other hot-button issues under Trump’s presidency. Specifically, that it will flame out after a few days of being the major topic of conversation for a few days, just like the news cycle that enveloped the White House after Omarosa Manigault Newman’s book hit stores last week and she released tapes of conversations during her time working at the White House.
[Related: Did Michael Cohen actually commit campaign finance violations? Some legal experts aren’t sure]
“In this environment, 70 days is a long time. I’d be surprised if what happens this week has much impact on what happens on election day in November,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. “Look at your own reporting 10 days ago and you’ll think it was 10 weeks ago.”
Despite GOP pessimism in retaining the House, Senate Republicans remain bullish over their chances to keep hold of the upper chamber and to even gain seats in November. Cohen’s guilty plea and implication of the president, they believe, will not change the political winds drastically.
“I don’t see what happened over the last 24 hours being some sort of a sea change,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., co-chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
He doesn’t believe voters are distracted by noise of this kind. “I don’t see that when you go into states and you poll people on the things that are important to them,” Tillis said. “They’re still worried about the economy. Trade does come up. They’re worried about the cost of healthcare, but … when you do a poll and you look at maybe the top eight to 10 things they’re looking at, this really doesn’t show up along broad demographics.”
Republicans currently hold a 51-49 advantage in the Senate, but have been forced to work with 50 Republican members as Sen. John McCain remains home in Arizona while battling glioblastoma. They have three Republican-held seats where Democrats are competitive — Nevada, Arizona, and Tennessee — and are on offense in a myriad of states that supported Trump in the 2016 campaign, including West Virginia, North Dakota, and Indiana.
