The clock has run out for Donald Trump: ex-deputy attorney general
Former deputy Attorney General Harry Litman estimated that former President Donald Trump will likely be forced into a deposition in about 30 days. That takes into account Trump will demand the Supreme Court rescue him, which Litman doesn't think is possible.
Discussing the New York civil case, Litman explained that past playbooks by Trump don't appear to be working as he works to escape accountability for his company.
"He has 21 days to sit for the deposition," Litman told MSNBC. And "14 days for him and Don Jr. and Ivanka to turn over documents. He can appeal, but he has no real legal claim. I think the New York court will make very quick work of it. Even if he tries the Supreme Court. It will make quick work of it. In the past, he's been able to exploit Congress's short timeline and sort of play out the clock. I don't think he has it here. Within 30 days or so, he's looking at sitting down to a closed deposition. As you say, now, of course, he has a silver bullet. He can take the Fifth Amendment, and I think he probably will. But, it's a body blow for him of course. And a made-to-order sort of commercial — since he's said that only guilty people take it. And it can really hurt him in the actual civil trial that the AG of New York may be doing. They can draw an adverse inference, and say to the jury, 'You can assume what he would have said had he not taken the Fifth,' [which] would have been bad for him. These are all new sets of development. His old playbook doesn't fit."
When speaking to Trump biographer Tim O'Brien, MSNBC host Katie Phang noted that Trump has recently pitched the Saudis to host a golf tournament at one of his properties. O'Brien called it a "raw national security conflict."
"If he runs for president again in 2024, and he's helped over this financial hurdle right now through back-door aid from the Saudis. That's a real problem," he explained. "I think the mere fact that he is going in the business with them, invites a review of everything he did for the Saudis when he was president. And the conflict it sets up for him running again. Of course, he's under enormous financial pressure."
O'Brien notes that Trump's accounting firm left him last week, there are legal problems mounting for the Inauguration committee and Trump lost an appeal to dodge a subpoena in New York. Meanwhile, on the business side, Trump has nearly $600 million of debt coming due over the next few years. That will cause problems as he looks for banks that can loan him money for new projects. It might be another reason he's reaching out to the Saudis because he'll be forced to ask privately for money in the future.
"People are used to saying that Trump has nine lives," O'Brien continued. "He seems to get through every kind of legal scrutiny that is visited upon him. I think the real thing to remember is he's never been under the microscope with very well-resourced and aggressive prosecutors like you have in the New York state attorney general office, the Manhattan district attorney's office — and by the way in Georgia — and so, he's got the twin legal nightmares and business nightmares floating around him at the same time. And his playbook hasn't really — he doesn't have anything in his playbook to work through here."
He recalled their early 2000s lawsuit in which the accounting firm the Mazars didn't take O'Brien's reporting seriously. Now that law enforcement has confirmed the information, the Mazars were quick to cut the cord.
"I suspect when he testifies he will take the Fifth," O'Brien continued. "Eric took the fifth hundreds of times. I imagine his father and sister and brother will do the same. In a civil court, taking the Fifth can be put in front of the jury as admissible. And it doesn't look good in a civil case. And he has the criminal case to contend with."
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