Here’s the thing about the criminal prosecution of Donald Trump’s family
Every few days we hear some new detail about the SDNY criminal case that’s closing in on Michael Cohen, or the Robert Mueller grand jury that’s closing in on Roger Stone. It’s a reminder that it’s difficult for these kinds of developments to happen without us hearing something about what’s going on along the way. So here’s the big question: why haven’t we heard anything about grand jury proceedings against Donald Trump’s kids?
Part of the reason we keep hearing about the proceedings against the likes of Cohen and Stone is that they’re already trying to defend themselves in public. But another part of it is that the witnesses involved, whether they’re friendly to the prosecution or to the defense, are also letting slip to the media that they’ve been brought in to testify. Is it possible that there are grand juries going on right now against the likes of Donald Trump Jr or Ivanka Trump or Jared Kushner, and we’re simply not hearing anything about them?
The answer is a mixed bag. Roger Stone says that at least twelve of his associates have been subpoenaed to testify against him; fewer than half of them have identified themselves to the media. So let’s hypothetically say that Mueller has a grand jury going against Kushner right now, and that he’s brought in twelve Kushner associates to testify. Are we to believe that not one of them has blabbed to the media? It seems unlikely, yet possible. There’s another explanation here.
We keep seeing Trump-Russia players cutting plea deals and/or becoming cooperating witnesses. For instance Erik Prince is now cooperating with Mueller, but there are no hints about whom he might give up. He has connections to Jared Kushner. Is that what’s going on here? If so, why aren’t we hearing about the likes of Prince being brought in to testify against the likes of Kushner before a grand jury? I can give you a possible explanation, and it’s one you’re initially not going to like, but one which you may find plenty acceptable in the end.
Robert Mueller is trying to work his way to Donald Trump without doing anything that would send Trump into a rage, causing him to try to fire Mueller, or to try to start pardoning everyone. Neither of these tactics would likely work, but they would make Mueller’s life more complicated. We’ve already seen that Trump isn’t willing to stick his neck out to save the likes of Michael Flynn or Paul Manafort; he might or might not be willing to stick his neck out for his own family.
In any case, Donald Trump’s own family members are the least likely to be willing to cut plea deals against him, and Robert Mueller’s strategy for taking Trump down is based largely around plea deals. Mueller could be looking to coerce Trump into resignation by indicting his family members. But it’s just as plausible that Mueller has decided to hold off indicting and prosecuting Trump’s family until after Trump has been booted from office. If Mueller’s tenure has run its course by then, the relevant U.S. Attorney’s office could handle the prosecutions. That would mean Trump’s kids would be the very last to face justice – but they’d still face the music in the end.
