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'He's getting convicted': Morning Joe panel says Trump should cut deal to avoid prison
June 14, 2023 6:13AM ET
Panelists on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" discussed whether the Department of Justice should offer Donald Trump a plea deal -- and whether the former president should accept one.
The ex-president was arraigned Tuesday on 37 federal charges related to his possession of classified documents and refusal to return them to the National Archives, and the panelists agreed that Trump faced the very real possibility that he would be convicted and spend the rest of his life in prison.
"Well, it is a hard conversation to have with Donald Trump, but the fact of the matter is all you have to do is look at what does the government need to prove to go 37 for 37 on this indictment," said attorney George Conway. "It is that he had the documents... he knew he had the documents, check, and he was asked for the documents back by the government, check. He didn't give the documents back when he was asked for them, and they had to come to seize them, check, and then he was moving them around to hide them, check, and he lied, he caused people to lie to the government."
"Which of these facts is he going to dispute, and the answer is he can't dispute any of them," Conway added.
In addition to all that evidence, Trump was also recorded discussing the process for properly declassifying documents and admitting he no longer possessed that authority after leaving the White House.
"They've got him on tape," said host Joe Scarborough. "They've got them talking to his aides, everything, they have him, so that's why I say he really needs to plea if he wants to stay out of jail for the rest of his life."
Political analyst John Heilemann wondered whether both sides would be interested in reaching an agreement that would keep Trump out of prison -- and the White House.
"You two, a country lawyer, and a non-country lawyer, can check my logic on this, but I think you would have the prosecutor here, a plea deal where obviously Trump would be pleading guilty, and once he pleaded guilty he could no longer be president of the United States," Heilemann said. "That would be a political compromise, except for the far left. Many people want to see Trump in an orange jump suit. Accountability is important. Many people in the country would accept a plea deal that involved Trump pleading guilty to some felony charges. It would keep him out of prison and the White House forever. I think there would be a broad consensus in the Democratic part of the country, that's a deal that people would live with. There would be some letdown, he's not going to jail, but is never going to be back in the White House again, that would be a broadly accepted deal by most of the country."
Scarborough said there was a precedent for public officials to plead guilty and agree to never serve in elected office again, and former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said Trump should consider making that deal.
"So there's no question that the right legal move is to plead if you want to avoid jail time," Weissman said. "I mean, unless something strange happens, he's getting convicted. This is an incredibly strong case. If you want to avoid jail, there's precedent for if he pleads, he can get a deal like Gen. [David] Petraeus had, he avoided jail. The part about staying out of office is one which is more unusual -- this is Spiro Agnew. Look, he could throw that -- if he's trying to say, I will do this."
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