MSNBC’s Chris Matthews thinks President Trump might just resign as part of a secret deal with special prosecutor Robert Mueller in an effort to avoid prosecution of himself or members of his family.
“The president’s children stand right in the line of Mueller’s investigative progress,” Matthews said this week on his show “Hardball,” referring to Ivanka and Donald Jr. “They stand as the next dominoes to fall,” Matthews said, noting that the Trump children can “hardly testify against their father.”
“Therein lies the problem: Where earlier Mueller subjects have given Trump up, these two lack the option to do that,” said the TV entertainer, adding that if Mueller “will not be stopped and the kids will not fall to him, we see the president’s adult children heading to prison.”
Matthews then mused about a solution. “But what if the prosecutor were to offer the president an alternative?” he said. “What if he were to say he would let the children walk if the old man does the same? That would mean giving up the presidency in exchange for acquittals all around ― not just for himself, but for all his kids,” said Matthews, who famously got a “thrill” up his leg whenever he watched former President Barack Obama speak.
The TV host said it’s happened before, citing the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew in 1973, who struck a deal with prosecutors to avoid jail time for tax evasion. “Leverage the office while you still have it. So let’s watch the probable events of the coming weeks bring all this to a breaking point,” Matthews said.
“It is going to be historic,” he predicted.
The scenario has become a favorite of Washington insiders and mainstream media of late. The Washington Post’s “conservative” columnist Jennifer Rubin said last week that Trump is likely planning an 11th hour stunt to avoid going to jail.
“I would predict here on MSNBC that when Trump leaves office he will resign the presidency 10 minutes before Mike Pence leaves office, allowing Pence to pardon him if there is not a Republican president to follow him,” Rubin said on the network’s “AM Joy” show.
Under Rubin’s theory, on January 20, 2021 (or, more likely, 2025), Trump will resign the presidency at 11:50 a.m. (the incoming president is sworn in at the Capitol at noon). Then, the vice president will be sworn in as president (he’d have to be), and whip out a presidential pardon, which he’d sign. At noon, poof, Pence is no longer president and Trump is in the clear.
Talk about wacky.