President cites ‘conflicts of interest’

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump trained his rancor on federal investigators Monday and appeared to warn that negative material would emerge about the prosecutors leading the inquiry into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

In a series of Twitter posts Monday, the president said the investigation was being run by Democrats and raised the question of whether the special counsel’s work was being drawn out to influence the outcome of the upcoming midterm congressional elections when Democrats could win enough seats to take control of the House and possibly the Senate.

“Just wait ‘till the Courts get to see your unrevealed Conflicts of Interest,” Trump wrote in one of the early morning tweets.

The veiled threat to the special counsel leading the inquiry and the suggestion of bias comes at a time when Trump’s legal team seems to be struggling to present a consistent message to the American public.

The Republicans could lose control of the House and possibly the Senate in the upcoming elections, in part because of growing disapproval of the job Trump is doing. Trump’s approval rating is at 41 percent, the lowest of presidents at this point in their first terms since former President Jimmy Carter, who had a 40.5 percent approval rating at a comparable time in his administration.