Laurence Tribe says Robert Mueller’s latest move means Donald Trump’s “goose is cooked”
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has demonstrated repeatedly that he’s been three steps ahead of Donald Trump throughout his investigation. Now comes news that Mueller has made a specific move to cut off any remaining avenues that Trump might have had for escaping what’s coming. The move is such a big deal that Professor Laurence Tribe and other legal experts are signaling that Trump is now certain to end up going down.
The latest news comes by way of Politico, which has reported that Mueller is teaming with New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to pursue state level charges against Trump’s Russia co-conspirator Paul Manafort and, presumably, Trump’s other advisers. While Trump may or may not have the Constitutional power to pardon his co-conspirators from federal crimes and charges, he definitely does not have the power to pardon anyone from state crimes. This means Trump cannot persuade his associates to take the rap for him under the promise that he’ll pardon them. It leaves Manafort, and likely others, with no choice but to flip on Trump.
Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe, who may be the nation’s foremost expert on Constitutional law, reacted to the news by tweeting “What’s Russian for ‘Trump’s goose is cooked?'” (link). This is a clear signal that Tribe agrees with the media’s interpretation that Mueller has Trump’s associates legally cornered. But Tribe isn’t the only legal expert who is viewing this news as evidence that Trump is hosed.
Benjamin Wittes may be best known in some circles for being the friend who initially spoke to the media on James Comey’s behalf after he was fired as FBI Director. But Wittes is a Senior Fellow at Brookings and the Editor in Chief of Lawfare, making him a legal expert in his own right. He responded to the latest Mueller news simply by tweeting a picture of cannon going off, along with the word “Boom!” (link). In other words, the people with the best understanding of the law think Robert Mueller just achieved checkmate against Donald Trump.
