I came to a realization earlier this week. While I recognize that there is still a great deal of uncertainty in what exact ways things will play out -- whether Trump will actually get impeached or convicted by the Senate or indicted or have a sealed indictment held until leaving office or be an unindicted co-conspirator -- I also recognized something else more specific and (to my mind) certain. I no longer am worrying if Mueller or state Attorneys General or the FBI or whoever would “get” Trump and his cronies. What I realized is that we are SO far beyond that. It’s not only a house of cards that will fall, it’s already started falling. And if Trump doesn’t see that, he’s an idiot. And if the Republicans in Congress don’t see that, they’re idiots. (Some Republicans are slowly starting to, but it’s really too late for them to escape blame – they enabled it all. But the sooner they act, but better chance they have to escape with their soul.) There's an old folk song, "A Worried Man," which has a line "I'm worried now, but I won't be worried long." Well, we passed "now" long ago. When you look at all the people who we KNOW are cooperating witnesses – Michael Cohen (and with his audio tapes), Michael Flynn (who has been cooperating so much that prosecutors recommend zero jail time despite his near-treasonous actions), Allen Weisselberg (the longtime accountant of the Trump Organization), David Pecker (one of Trump's oldest "friends" who probably has a vault full of incriminating evidence from decades past), and Marina Butina (an actual real-life Russian spy), for starters – there is no way it can’t be anything but crushing. And this doesn’t include all the people who we know are cooperating witnesses but are more limited in their connections, like Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Felix Sater and others. Nor does it include those we’re not aware of who are cooperating, nor all the tapes that Mueller most certainly has and that Mueller has had Trump's tax returns since he became Special Counsel. But it does include, too, the reality that New York Attorney General Letitia James got the Trump Foundation to shut down without fighting it in court and also got them to agree -- without fighting it in court -- that no officers of the Trump Foundation (who are the same officers of the Trump Organization) can ever be on the board of any other charity…and takes in consideration what New York Attorney General's office said about "a pattern of persistent illegal conduct, occurring over more than a decade" by the Trump Foundation.” And now we have that signed letter of intent from Trump to Russia to try and build his hotel in Moscow. And we've already had 33 people in the Trump universe who have been indicted, convicted or plead guilty. And there are already 17 active investigations looking into Trump, whether by the Special Counsel, the FBI, the Justice Department or the states. And this is before the Democrats taken over control of the House of Representatives in two weeks. And open new investigations and have the two most terrifying words that Trump can possibly hear -- "subpoena power." And...well, as I said, we are long-since past worrying if Robert Mueller has enough to get Trump. He does. And so do all the others investigating Trump. And they will get him. To be clear, I don't have a clue on what charges they'll get. For all I know, they won't find enough provable evidence of Trump personally conspiring with Russians to impeach or indict him. Mind you, I doubt that, given all of what we've already seen and what we know of how the Trump sphere operates, but for the sake of fair-minded argument it's certainly possible that he insulated himself. (Though significantly-less possible that those around him are insulated.) But there's still so much more that is being investigated, like obstruction of justice, tax fraud, money laundering, bank fraud, perjury, election fraud and more. Going back over 30 years with Trump personally and with the Trump Organization, as well as and Trump Foundation. (Does anyone seriously think the Trump Organization operated differently, on a higher moral plane than did the faux-charitable Trump Foundation that was just shut down with the exact same officers in charge?!) All felonies -- all serious felonies. All impeachable. All even potentially indictable, at the very least enough to be an unindicted co-conspirator. The question at this point is not "Will they get him?", it's how deeply, and when, and how Republicans react to it all, and how it plays out legally -- and who else will get dragged down with him. But as for worrying if Mueller and the others have enough to get Trump??? The only person who should be worrying about that is Trump. Or to put it in the words of another president, the only thing Trump has to fear is Trump himself.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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