The DOJ has achieved checkmate with Kash Patel and Donald Trump
What do you do when a witness cites the Fifth Amendment in his refusal to testify about the allegedly criminal actions that he and the President of the United States carried out together? You give him limited immunity, which takes the Fifth Amendment off the table, leaving the witness with no choice but to cooperate unless he wants to go to prison.
When you think about it, it’s almost devilishly clever what the DOJ has pulled off here by giving Kash Patel limited immunity for his grand jury testimony in its classified documents criminal probe into Donald Trump. There’s a reason the Wall Street Journal is reporting that as a result of the immunity, Patel will go ahead and testify in the coming days: Patel doesn’t have a choice.
If Patel decides not to testify at the last minute, the DOJ has him nailed for obstruction. If Patel decides to lie during his testimony, the DOJ has him nailed for perjury. These kinds of open and shut charges would definitely send Patel to prison. So he can either rot in prison or he can give the DOJ the insider testimony it needs to help ensure that Trump is convicted at trial.
This is, finally, checkmate. There are no magic wand scenarios that could somehow magically get Patel off the hook from having to give up Trump. The Fifth Amendment is out the window. There is no one to magically pardon Patel. It’s just over for him. Patel has to decide whether he’d rather see Trump in a prison cell or himself in a prison cell. And if Patel decides to throw his own life away to save Trump, the DOJ will just flip someone else against Trump. Not everyone around Trump is stupid enough to throw their lives away.
The Patel immunity is also a clear sign that the DOJ is indeed just about ready to indict and arrest Donald Trump. You don’t start lighting those kinds of fuses until you’re ready to do the deed. This is endgame stuff. The DOJ is doing its job, and is preparing to indict Trump after the midterms. Now let’s spend these final few days doing our jobs by phone banking, door knocking, and getting out the vote in the midterms.
