Ex-US attorney says lawyers managing ‘toddler’ Trump’s tantrum with happy talk about exoneration

President Donald Trump reportedly believes special counsel Robert Mueller will soon issue a letter of exoneration that will get him off the hook on Russia -- but a former U.S. attorney said they're just trying to keep him calm.

Joyce White Vance, who prosecuted federal cases for the Northern District of Alabama from 2009 to 2017, compared the president to a screaming toddler who had to be soothed before getting dragged out of a toy store.

"Mueller and his team know where they are in the investigation," Vance told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

The special counsel probe has already resulted in two guilty pleas and two indictments, and have indicated more charges could be coming, but the president's lawyers have said they believe the Mueller investigation of Trump campaign ties to Russia would end by Christmas.

"You can't help but think that what's going on here is a lot like these toddlers you see in toy stores with their parents, and they're screaming and they want their parents to buy them something, and their parents will tell them anything just to get them out of the toy store without making a scene," Vance said.

"This presidency feels a little that way as though perhaps the president's lawyers are just (saying), 'Really, you won't get indicted, please let's leave the toy store,'" Vance added.