Why the Democrats are trying to steer Donald Trump toward pleading the Fifth

| 5:46 pm EST January 24, 2018
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Now that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is demanding an interview with Donald Trump in the Russia investigation, Trump only has two options. He can either give Mueller the interview and hope that he doesn’t end up incriminating himself in the process. Or he can invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to testify against himself. In a somewhat surprising development, House Democrats now appear to be trying to steer Trump toward pleading the Fifth.

Democratic Congressman David Cicilline serves on the powerful House Judiciary Committee, where the impeachment process begins. Cicilline is sufficiently plugged in to the Mueller investigation to know what the stakes are, and to choose his words carefully. So when Cicilline appeared on CNN with Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday afternoon, why did he make a point of saying that Trump has the to option of pleading the Fifth? He and the Democrats are putting this out there for a reason.

We all know that Trump sits around watching cable news all day. He spends much of it watching Fox News, but he tweet-whines enough about CNN’s coverage to make clear that he also spends significant time watching CNN each day. Congressman Cicilline had to have known that he was essentially speaking to Trump directly when he floated the idea of Trump invoking the Fifth Amendment. Congressman Ted Lieu, another Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, now seems to be using his latest tweets to try to scare Trump out of testifying as well. This has to be part of a larger strategy.

Robert Mueller now has so many inside witnesses to prove that Trump committed obstruction of justice, it’s possible – perhaps even likely – that he doesn’t actually need Trump’s testimony in order to nail Trump for obstruction. If that’s indeed the case, then it would benefit the Democrats politically if Trump does invoke the Fifth Amendment instead of testifying.

Pleading the Fifth would make Donald Trump look incredibly guilty in the court of public opinion. It would drive his approval rating, which has already dropped ten points since he took office, even lower as everyone but his core base abandons him. It would destroy him politically, even as Mueller works to dismantle him on a criminal basis.