Donald Trump’s own people begin throwing him under the bus as it becomes clear that his whistleblower scandal is going to take him down
This morning Palmer Report pointed to what appeared to be the beginning of a trend in Donald Trump’s Ukraine whistleblower scandal. Rudy Giuliani tried to throw Secretary of State Mike Pompeo under the bus, in the hope of minimizing his own criminal exposure. Acting White House Chief of Staff Mike Mulvaney, or Mulvaney’s OMB allies, appeared to throw Trump under the bus for the same reason. Now that Trump’s impeachment has commenced, that trend is playing out in unmistakable fashion.
Unnamed officials in the Donald Trump administration are now telling the Washington Post tonight that they spent weeks actively trying to prevent Donald Trump from cutting off aid to Ukraine, and from calling the president of Ukraine. These officials are accusing Rudy Giuliani of having steered Trump down this path, in spite of their objections and their best efforts.
It’s not precisely clear who within the Trump regime leaked this. But the message couldn’t be more clear: Trump regime officials are trying to paint this as a criminal conspiracy between Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani, and that they tried to stop it.
There’s only one reason for Donald Trump’s own people to already be going down the road of throwing Trump and Rudy Giuliani under the bus like this. They think Trump is going down for it, and they think everyone who eagerly participated in the conspiracy is at risk of going to prison for it. They’re already doing this, just a few hours into impeachment. That’s how thoroughly Trump’s own people think he’s screwed.
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report