By Howard Fineman
The five words a senator least likes to hear are not “you have lost the election.” They are “the federal investigation is ongoing.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky might have a reason to be concerned that the second sentence could lead to him hearing the first.
On Wednesday, a federal investigation in Iowa forced a state senator there to plead guilty to obstruction of justice charges stemming from $73,000 in bribes he admitted taking from Rep. Ron Paul's campaign in 2012.
A key figure in that 2012 Ron Paul campaign (and the 2008 Ron Paul campaign as well) was Jesse Benton. He ran the 2010 Kentucky Senate race for Rand Paul -- a fitful McConnell ally. And until yesterday, he was officially (but not recently, in fact) running McConnell’s 2014 race.
Benton has not been accused of wrongdoing. The McConnell campaign issued a terse statement Friday morning dismissing the Iowa probe as unconnected to the senator or his circle, and Benton has denied any knowledge of or involvement in the bribe or efforts to cover it up.
This is probably not the end of the story. The plea was based in part on two sealed documents, and the U.S. Department of Justice has said that the probe is ongoing.
Read the rest here.
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