A REPRIEVE? – AT 12:21 P.M. ET:  With the Mueller investigation dragging on, apparently endlessly, there is informed speculation about what the special counsel will do during the upcoming midterm election campaign.  From Newsmax: 

Although the investigation into the 2016 president election is technically boundless, FBI special counsel Robert Mueller's probe will have to conclude soon or go dark to avoid an appearance of trying to sway elections in the 2018 midterms, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"I think it is the obligation of every reasonable prosecutor to minimize the duration of that cloud or cause lightning to strike as quickly as possible," former federal prosecutor out of New York Preet Bharara, who was fired by President Donald Trump for refusing to resign, told the Journal.

There are some written Justice Department memos aligned to that effect, written by former President Barack Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder, but nothing that would concretely force Mueller to resolve his investigation on the last presidential election or keep him from speaking out on the status of it, as James Comey infamously did twice in 2016.

There aren't any rules around how we act in the run-up to an election . . . there's a norm, you avoid any action in the run-up to an election that might have an impact, if you can," James Comey told Axios, the Journal reported.

Comey, though, is "sure" Mueller would "operate with that norm in mind" and not do anything to damage Republicans or aid Democrats' hopes to retake control of Congress in the November midterm elections.

COMMENT:  Well, we'll see.  There's the old practice of leaking to favored journalists, with the source well hidden.  I expect to see some of that.

We really must rethink this whole business of the special counsel.  It really does interfere with the process of government, and imposes a layer of pressure on freely elected officials.  There must be a better way to resolve questions about presidential behavior, or the behavior of other high governmental officials.  Government by investigation is so Middle Ages.

May 6,  2018