Former President Donald Trump, easily the most persecuted man in modern American history, announced Thursday evening that he was being indicted by the Department of Justice on federal charges relating to his handling of classified documents.
Leave it to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow to acknowledge that the announced indictment was politically motivated, but for a good cause — that cause being to strongarm Trump into dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.
Interestingly, the former president called the DOJ’s campaign against him “election interference” and “the greatest witch hunt of all time.”
“You have to wonder if the Justice Department is considering whether there is some political solution to this criminal problem. Whether part of the issue here is not just that Trump has committed crimes, but that Trump has committed crimes and plans on being back in the White House,” Maddow said to colleague Lawrence O’Donnell.
“Do they consider as part of a potential plea offer, something that would proscribe him… proscribe him from running for office again? I don’t know,” she added.
Trump-Russia conspiracy theorist @Maddow says “you have to wonder” if the DOJ would drop Trump’s case in exchange for him never “running for office again.” @Lawrence reminds her that this is exactly what Trump accuses the DOJ of trying to achieve: pic.twitter.com/ivP9pGSCSJ
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) June 9, 2023
O’Donnell was all in on the possibility but did note that Trump’s legal team would have to propose the idea to avoid quid pro quo allegations.
“I would imagine if anything like that happened that it would have to come from the defense side of the negotiation,” he said. “That the Trump team would say, ‘Oh, by the way, and with this, we will also, you know, drop out of the race for president.'”
“Otherwise, it would put the Justice Department in this position that Donald Trump claims they’re in,” O’Donnell continued. “You know he claims they’re trying to stop him, simply trying to stop him from becoming president again, and that’s the only reason they’re doing this.”
Maddow has fantasized about charges leveled against Trump resulting in him making the ultimate deal of falling on his sword to avoid jail, as liberal reporter Aaron Maté reminded followers.
This isn’t a new idea for Maddow. In February 2019, she floated the possibility that Trump will “offer to trade away his resignation” as President to avoid charges over hush money payments to Stormy Daniels: pic.twitter.com/TAkmApmG8a
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) June 9, 2023
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on Twitter:
Quiet part out loud. Interesting.
— Sandy 〽️ (@RightGlockMom) June 9, 2023
That’s why it’s election interference
— The Hancock (@HancockThe1011) June 9, 2023
Maddow once again being the spokesperson for the CIA and FBI.
— Crypt0Dr1v3r (@Crypt0Dr1v3r) June 9, 2023
Isn’t threatening someone with prosecution if they don’t do what you want … extortion?
— Danny MacMillan (@dannymacmillan) June 9, 2023
That’s really the only goal of this, isn’t it?
— Aldous Huxley’s Ghost™ (@AF632) June 9, 2023
terrible precedent for the country…
dangerously naive to believe this will not have far reaching destabilizing political consequences…
pre textual prosecution is the stuff of unstable polities.
— joanskitchen (@sheekooleekoo) June 9, 2023
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.