Yet another Trump-Russia suspect pleads the Fifth Amendment as the walls close in
Donald Trump’s Russia scandal has gotten profoundly ugly for a whole lot of Trump’s people. Four of his campaign advisers have been arrested and charged with felonies, and two of them have already pleaded guilty. Multiple members of Trump’s own family are in danger of being arrested, and Trump himself is facing mounting legal trouble in the scandal. Now, as the walls continue to close in, yet another Trump-Russia suspect is pleading the Fifth Amendment in a desperate attempt to stave off the inevitable.
Trump’s longtime friend Roger Stone has long bragged that he had a backchannel with Russian-controlled cyberterrorist group WikiLeaks, which stole emails from Trump’s opponents and released doctored versions to the public in order to rig the outcome. Stone, facing arrest for contempt of Congress, was finally compelled to give up the name of his backchannel. He named his friend Randy Credico. This prompted Congress to immediately summon Credico, who according to Mother Jones (link), is invoking the Fifth Amendment. So now what?
Pleading the Fifth doesn’t protect you from criminal investigation and prosecution. All it does is protect you from having to answer questions about the alleged crime in question. Although it’s not legally considered a confession or signal of guilt, it often serves to point investigators in the right direction, and can directly backfire on the suspect in question.
Congress says it won’t even bother hauling Credico in, just so he can refuse to answer each question he’s asked. Instead, it’ll just go ahead and focus its investigation on Credico’s alleged connection to WikiLeaks and the Kremlin. More importantly, Special Counsel Robert Mueller now knows precisely where to dig as well. Others have previously invoked the Fifth Amendment in the Trump-Russia scandal. Michael Flynn did so, but ultimately cut a plea deal. Carter Page did so, but went on to give up crucial details as well. Credico will likely talk in the end as well. In this scandal, everyone does.
