Yet another small group of candidates, however, is comfortable sitting back because they are in a unique position, already having some association to the Trump investigations, at least in the public eye. Kamala Harris, for one, is a member of both the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees in the Senate. Her team has not fully gamed out potential responses, but she’s already spoken publicly about her expectation that the report be as transparent as possible, and she — like Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker, fellow Judiciary members — have also been prominent participants in the public discussion about protecting the investigation during the confirmation process for Attorney General William Barr. They will have extra credibility when they respond, they believe, so they have an extra responsibility to take their time to get it right. California congressman Eric Swalwell, another likely candidate, is in a similar spot as a member of the House Intelligence Committee.
But it’s relative long-shot candidates like Swalwell who think Mueller might offer them the clearest potential opportunity to break through. The candidates who are least known have, by definition, the greatest opening to try and define themselves to the electorate in the wake of what’s likely to be the biggest news spectacle in months, if not years. So strategists aligned with a wide range of candidates said they expect that group to try and take the boldest stances, or to be the loudest, in the immediate aftermath of the news drop. Calls for impeachment, for example, may come loud and fast among the crowd polling at or under one percent. The general guideline Democrats have followed for two years of reserving judgment, lest the report become overly politicized in the public view, is wearing thin, after all. But given Trump’s constant attacks on Mueller, and an energized chunk of the Democratic base’s interest in the matter, its time was long coming anyway.
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