Betsy DeVos, her strangely timed 60 Minutes interview, and her role in the Trump-Russia scandal

| 7:05 pm EDT March 13, 2018
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One of the reasons I like having so many new writers for Palmer Report is that they get me thinking. Last night Joan Brekken pointed out that Betsy DeVos may have gotten herself in trouble with Donald Trump after she criticized him on 60 Minutes, just days after DeVos’ brother Erik Prince was exposed as a liability in the Trump-Russia scandal (link). It got me wondering about what these two things, the Prince story and the DeVos television appearance, have to do with each other.

Last week it was reported that George Nader, who set up Erik Prince’s Russia meeting in the Seychelles, is now a cooperating witness in the Trump-Russia investigation. This means that Robert Mueller knows precisely what went on during that meeting. If Prince committed crimes on Trump’s behalf, Mueller now has him nailed for it. So why on earth would Prince’s sister, who also works for Trump, decide to appear on national television a few days later?

One would think that Betsy DeVos would be trying to lay low right now, in the hope that the scandalous news about Erik Prince might blow over, and that people might forget that they’re siblings, and that the media might not think to poke around any further when it comes to DeVos and Trump-Russia. Instead she raced straight onto 60 Minutes for an interview about education. Maybe the interview was coincidentally booked beforehand, and she didn’t want to raise even more suspicion by abruptly canceling it after her brother’s role in her boss’ criminal scandal became front page news. But maybe there’s another explanation.

Is it possible that Betsy DeVos booked this 60 Minutes interview as a swan song? Is she preparing to resign because her brother Erik Prince is being pressured to a cut a plea deal against her boss Donald Trump? Is that why DeVos was unafraid to lecture Trump on national television about his filthy mouth? Stay tuned. And in the mean time, go read our report connecting Betsy DeVos to the Trump Tower Russian email server.