The number of Donald Trump cabinet members headed to prison just increased by at least one, and maybe two
How many of Donald Trump’s current and former cabinet members are headed to prison? That depends on a few factors, such as whether Jeff Sessions has cut an immunity deal against Trump, and whether Betsy DeVos is as closely tied to Trump-Russia as circumstantial evidence suggests she is. But we do know that the number of cabinet members headed to prison just increased by at least one, and maybe two.
This week a judge ruled that Donald Trump’s current Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta broke the law back when he was a federal prosecutor by giving a suspiciously lenient plea deal to serial child rapist Jeffrey Epstein, and preventing the victims from finding out about it. The judge hasn’t yet handed out any specific remedies, and we don’t know what will happen to Epstein, but it is clear that Acosta is in serious trouble.
The question of course is why Acosta did this. In the process he violated federal law, he also violated God’s laws by letting this sick SOB off the hook, and put his own career and freedom at stake in the process. Trump and Epstein have been friends for many years. Trump seemingly rewarded Acosta for getting Epstein off the hook, by giving him the cabinet position. We don’t know where this is headed, but there’s enough momentum now that the ugly truth will come out.
Will proof be uncovered that Alexander Acosta took some kind of bribe in exchange for letting Epstein off the hook, or that Donald Trump was somehow involved? We have no idea. Acosta will go to Hell for what he did, but the reality is that he’ll probably only go to prison if it can be proved that he had malicious intent (such as a bribe) when he cut the plea deal. However, we learned this week that another Trump cabinet member is all but definitely headed to prison.
As we speak, a grand jury is hearing evidence that Donald Trump’s recently resigned Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke lied to federal investigators about one of his scandals. Grand juries always indict on this kind of thing, and trial juries nearly always convict on this kind of thing. Zinke is going to prison. One can only hope that Alexander Acosta and Jeffrey Epstein are going with him.
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report