11-13-2022
'They want him out of their way': Some Republicans would
now welcome a Trump indictment.
According to a report from the Daily Beast, Donald Trump's hope that his reported announcement of
a 2024 presidential bid this week will forestall any criminal indictments will likely not come to fruition with legal experts saying the multiple investigations are too far along.
Add to that, some of them believe Republicans won't come
to his rescue after the midterm debacle that he is being blamed for.
As the Beast's Jose Pagliery wrote, "What Trump may not have realized is that his November announcement won’t give him any more protection than he already has; Georgia’s Senate race heading for a runoff election on Dec. 6 puts the Justice Department’s so-called '60-day rule' back in effect, three former prosecutors said," before adding,
"And regardless of Trump’s candidacy, former federal prosecutors told The Daily Beast they’re confident the former president will be indicted."
According to retired federal prosecutor Thomas Baer, "He thinks that if he is running for president this will cause prosecutors to drop their cases or think twice because it could be interpreted as political, a reaction to his running. The answer is:
No, they will not hold back.”
Attorney Martin London, formerly of the NYC firm Paul Weiss, agreed, adding, "If you’re asking whether the government should indict him in the face of [the] adversity it will produce in terms of all the lunatics who will come out and make threats, my answer is, yes.
Not only they should but they must. They must indict him if they find that he has violated the criminal law.
I’d like to see [Merrick] Garland hurry up, get this done,
and indict this son of a bitch.”
As for how Republicans are coming to view a possible prosecution, this past week's midterm failures are being pinned on Trump with Pagliery writing,
"Some think that even Republicans should get on board, particularly given the way that Republicans failed to realize a comeback and Trump-backed election denying candidates across the country were resoundingly rejected by voters this week."
Retired conservative attorney Eric Owens said some GOP lawmakers would welcome a Trump indictment to help clear
the field for 2024.
“I do think Trump believes he can avoid prosecution by running for president and causing delays," he explained. "That’s another Trump strategy: Delay and run out the clock. But many Republicans simply have a selfish and practical interest in seeing Trump prosecuted and convicted—for anything, really.
They want him out of their way either for their ambition or because he is clearly dragging the party down with bad candidates."