Robert Mueller wins again
Here’s the thing about the Trump-Russia scandal and investigation. Even as Donald Trump and his allies keep mouthing off about how they’re going to win, while resorting to increasingly absurd antics that aren’t finding them any success, Special Counsel Robert Mueller just keeps quietly beating them. Today was another reminder that they keep losing and Mueller keeps winning.
Trump’s longtime former adviser Sam Nunberg spent this week very loudly and publicly insisting that he wasn’t willing to cooperate with the investigation no matter what. He claimed he was going to take the heat, and go to prison if necessary, in order to protect his Trump-Russia friends. Nunberg was going to defy Mueller’s grand jury subpoena, and (in his mind) heroically save the likes of Donald Trump and Roger Stone from prosecution. But after all that big talk, you know what Nunberg ended up doing today? Giving six hours of helpful testimony to Robert Mueller’s grand jury.
We don’t know yet precisely what this will lead to. But it’s yet another instance of Mueller simply winning. This is crucial, because everyone targeted in this investigation seems to think they’re going to be the one to stand up and block the freight train, until it’s coming right at them. Then they all cave at the last minute and give Mueller precisely what he wants. Michael Flynn and Rick Gates had no intention of flipping, until they did. Roger Stone has no intention of flipping, but now that Nunberg has sold him out, we’ll see how quickly Stone caves like a wet paper bag.
Donald Trump’s one consistent skill in life has been the ability to find crummy people whose brains are wired to fall for his crap. Those types end up being loyal enough to him that they’re willing to destroy their own reputations and often commit crimes on his behalf. But once they realize they’ll spend the best parts of their lives in prison, that tends to break the spell rather efficiently. Nunberg is a reminder that nearly everyone will flip on Trump in the end.
