Now that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is over — and no new indictments against President Trump or his allies are coming — it’s time to look back at all the Democrats and their media counterparts predicting the downfall of an American president.
Grabien’s Tom Elliot posted the video Friday evening, compiling clips of various Democrat congressmen — including Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Maxine Waters (D-CA) — as well as media talking heads like MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski, all suggesting with glee that their adversary would be taken down by Mueller.
“My takeaway is there’s a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office the Justice Department may indict him, that he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time,” Schiff said in one clip. “We have been discussing the issue of pardons that the president may offer to people or dangle in front of people. The bigger pardon question may come down the road as the next president has to determine whether to pardon Donald Trump.”
Waters exclaimed: “If we do the investigations, the information is there.”
A multitude of others also predicted “jail” or “prison” time for Trump and his associates.
“My impression is after all of this is said and done that some people end up in jail,” Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “My impression is that people will probably be charged and probably go to jail.”
And it wasn’t just Democrats and media figures making the predictions. Comedians also got in on the action.
Kathy Griffin can be seen saying, “I think they’re all going to jail.” The View’s Joy Behar said similar of the whole Trump family: “I think they’re all going to end up together in prison and maybe that’s a good thing.”
In the end, Mueller turned over his final report on a Friday evening with no additional indictments. None of the people charged with crimes during his investigation were charged with anything approaching “collusion” with Russia. Trump allies like former campaign chair Paul Manafort and former attorney Michael Cohen were brought down with process crimes relating to the investigation and other forms of fraud not in relation to Russia allegedly stealing the 2016 election.
Fox News’ Ed Henry announced on Twitter that an official in the administration said Attorney General William Barr, who received Mueller’s report, may release his summary of the findings as early as Saturday.
“Admin official tells me AG Barr is moving toward revealing principal conclusions of the Mueller probe at some point on Saturday or Sunday, and his announcement could come ‘as early as tonite[sic],’” Henry tweeted. “AG working thru process but ‘wants to get this out tonite[sic],’ official said flatly.”
Barr would not be releasing the summary to the public just yet, as he is obligated to advise members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees first. It is at Barr’s discretion whether to release the report and how much to release, which means Democrats and their media cheerleaders will still have plenty to complain about as their predictions have fallen flat.