MSNBC conservative: Trump refusing Mueller interview may speed up indictments before 2018 midterms

Speaking with MSNBC host Richard Lui, a longtime Republican strategist explained that a refusal by President Donald Trump to sit down with Robert Mueller's investigators would free the special counsel up to announce indictments even earlier -- possibly before the 2018 midterms

According to host Liu, Trump is vulnerable over the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, "crafting a misleading statement on the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians ... dangling pardons before grand jury witnesses who may testify against him, and pressuring Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from the Russia investigation."

Asked to comment, Republican strategist Susan Del Percio said it goes beyond those four points.

"I think it's not one or the other," she explained. "I think it's just the overall broadness of wanting to prevent justice from happening and prevent the investigation."

"And that's a better narrative for the folks, for the Justice Department, frankly, if they're going to pursue this," she continued. "None of those four on its own would necessarily lead to criminal charges and it doesn't seem that's where they're going. Just to talk about the fact that Donald Trump may not be doing an interview -- just to step back on that, let's not forget this may work out better for Mueller because he may be able to wrap things up way before the 2018 elections."

Former Gov. Dean then jumped in.

"I think there's going to have to be more -- I think that's a start," he suggested. "But that doesn't really address the issue of collusion. I think there's a fair amount of evidence that there is -- has been collusion. We don't know that for a fact, but we sure do know that the noose is tightening."

"If it turns out that [Trump attorney Michael] Cohen really did go to Prague and talk to the Russians, as people have alleged and has been in print, then you start to get a pretty good case for collusion," Dean added. "My guess is, if and when this investigation wraps up, it's not going to be right away because I think they're going to get him for more than collusion."

You can watch the video below via MSNBC: