If a new, bombshell analysis from the Washington Post holds any weight, Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid may soon be over before it even begins — leaving the washed-up former guy fighting off indictments and criminal charges instead of campaigning and conniving for the White House — as the publication reports that a grand jury subpoena recently issued against former White House counsel Pat Cipollone could be the final death knell for life as Trump knows it.
Recent reporting has all but confirmed what we already knew to be true — one of Donald Trump’s biggest (if not the biggest) motivators for a 2024 presidential bid is the idea that his candidacy could protect him from persecution in regard to his role in the violent, infamous January 6th Capitol attack. However, according to the Post, he may never get the chance to find out one way or the other, as the new subpoena appears to be proof that the US Department of Justice is closing in on the scandal-ridden former president — with a high likelyhood that federal prosecutors on the case may soon be able to shake loose new evidence from Cipollone that the January 6th House Select Committee wasn’t able to get out of him.
New York University law professor Ryan Goodman weighed in, explaining, “Cipollone obviously thought many of Trump’s schemes were illegal or risked criminal liability. The Justice Department can get from Cipollone what he told Trump directly and how Trump responded. That is likely to be damning evidence.”
We’ve already had a good indication that Cipollone’s revelations will prove damning for the former president, as insiders revealed that the former White House cousel has been a “cooperative” witness, and Cipollone has already personally delivered bombshell information to the House Select Committee that’s investigating the deadly Capitol attack. Cipollone has told the panel of efforts by Donald Trump and his people to overturn the 2020 election results, while other insider witnesses have testified that Cipollone repeatedly tried to warn the then-president and his allies of the illegalities of their schemes. However, things are almost certain to soon get even worse for Trump’s case, as the Post theorizes that the DOJ will likely be able to extract those personal, private conversations between Trump and Cipollone, which were previously the subject of executive privilege.
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Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman said, “[DOJ] will insist there is no shield to his testimony, and if necessary will go to court to force his hand,” before adding that Cipolline could personally confirm “Trump’s knowledge that his conduct was illegal based on his own conversations with the president.”
The former White House counsel’s testimony could also lay to waste Donald Trump’s claim that he was essentially ignorant to it all, and instead simply following the advice of his lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman — which would help to further prove that Trump knew full and well all along that his actions were illegal.
“That’s where Cipollone can come in to show how Trump was told various schemes were patently illegal,” Goodman added.
As it stands, it’s currently unclear as to whether the subpoena was in relation to the fake electors scheme or the overall plot to overthrow the 2020 election — but neither option stands to spell good news for Donald Trump.
“The investigation is focused on the president’s circle, and very likely the president,” trial attorney David Lurie said.
Read the bombshell full report from the Washington Post here.
Featured image via screen capture
