Bon voyage, Mick Mulvaney!
When the House impeachment inquiry sent a subpoena to the Trump White House last week, it addressed the subpoena to Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. At the time Palmer Report flagged this as a clever move, because it put Mulvaney – a nervous weakling who’s in over his head – in legal jeopardy if Trump failed to comply. Would it make him crack?
Just a few days after that subpoena landed in Mick Mulvaney’s hands, he’s already making a point of leaking to the media that he’s ready to quit. Specifically, he’s having his allies tell Politico that if Donald Trump tries to scapegoat him in the Ukraine whistleblower scandal, he’ll resign. This is actually a pretty cutthroat move.
Mulvaney is telling Trump that he’ll have to find someone else to throw under the bus, because if Trump tries to blame it all on Mulvaney, he’ll resign. In so doing, Mulvaney is also subtly implying that if he is scapegoated, he’ll go cooperate with the House impeachment inquiry. As we said earlier, Mulvaney doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’s willing to go to prison for the greater glory of Donald Trump.
Trump has already tried to claim that Rick Perry forced him to make the Ukraine phone call. Trump has also repeatedly urged the media to investigate Mike Pence’s role in the scandal. Trump is making clear that he’s willing to throw anyone and everyone under the bus in a last ditch effort at saving himself. No wonder Mick Mulvaney is publicly warning Trump not to try it with him.
