Steve Benen reminds me that, strictly speaking, President Trump’s entreaties to various State entities that they discard the election results and pronounce him the victor are illegal:
Yes, those efforts are clumsy and ridiculous. Yes, his gambit is failing and will continue to fail. But that doesn’t negate the fact that this is one of the most momentous presidential disgraces Americans have ever seen.
What’s more, Trump’s antics may not be legal. As Rachel noted on the show last night, if you or I called election officials, and lobbied them to produce deliberately bogus election results, there’s a pretty good chance we’d face an indictment.
Andrew Weissman, a longtime Justice Department official who helped lead Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, explained in more detail last night how Trump’s election interference may very well run afoul of federal law.
NBC News’ First Read team recently framed the larger story in a compelling way: “Forget Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Or Trump’s impeachment for asking Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. Arguably the biggest political scandal we’ve ever seen in this country is playing right before our eyes: President Trump and his allies are trying to reverse the election results of a contest he lost.”
In a very real sense, it may be up to FBI Director Christopher Wray to decide if he wants to spring a December surprise on President Trump. To see President Trump marched off in handcuffs before January 20, 2021, would be both a surprise and deeply satisfying for “the left,” as well as NeverTrumpers on the right. And independents, such as myself, who’ve loathed Trump’s terrible, terrible behaviors and morals since he entered the political scene and began his Niagara Falls of lying.
Of course, that raises the question of what would happen to the Trump cult? My guess is they’d take it as a sign of further persecution and become even more firm in their opposition to the election results.
But this might release the silent Republicans who haven’t dared to affirm the election results. We might see a cascade of “Biden will be President” admissions. And with Trump under indictment, who knows what may come out? Perhaps his tax returns, which I suspect will indicate he’s little more than a con-man when it comes to his claims of billions of dollars, will be released, dismaying his followers in the prosperity church community.
Hell, maybe a President Pence would arrange to destroy Trump’s reputation in hopes of salvaging and commanding the GOP.
I don’t really expect Wray to arrest Trump. I don’t expect Barr’s prosecutors to take the case. I don’t expect them to argue Trump’s a flight risk and should not be permitted to pay bail and get out of jail.
But it’d be a helluva lot of fun.
