Trump is setting himself up to throw his accused co-conspirators under the bus: reporter
One reporter thinks that Donald Trump is already preparing to throw his allies under the bus to save himself in Georgia.
During a discussion among legal experts about the hefty number of accused co-conspirators in the Georgia indictment, commentator Bradley Moss speculated that the 18 defendants that aren't Donald Trump will likely make plea deals and cooperate with the district attorney.
At least one of those close to Trump has flipped. An un-indicted suspected co-conspirator, known as Individual 20 in the indictment, was in the Oval Office when conversations occurred around getting data from the Georgia voting machines.
Speculation has run wild Tuesday about whether the 18 other defendants will flip on the former president to save themselves, or if Trump will throw the 18 under the bus.
"I think for Donald Trump, this indictment is particularly of interest because of the fact that he is one of 19 defendants," said NBC News reporter Vaughn Hillyard. "The conversation you guys were just having, for Donald Trump, he remains the — I guess, the head of this power apparatus that acts as a political party, but as Fani Willis alleges, is a criminal enterprise. For Donald Trump, there is a reality that those other 18 defendants are the most loyal of individuals after the 2020 election to him. But who among those individuals will Donald Trump throw off the cliff?"
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He recalled seeing Trump in Iowa over the weekend and asking him whether he stands by the actions of his allies in the aftermath of the 2020 election, and Trump was already in self-protection mode.
"Part of his response to me was clear," Hillyard continued quoting Trump. "Many of the allies I don't know because, to be honest with you, I have so many allies. So, I don't know exactly what you're talking about."
Hillyard found it interesting that Trump was unwilling to say outright he has the back of anyone associated with working on his behalf.
"My question going forward is how many of these individuals will ultimately strike plea agreements with Fani Willis and undercut Donald Trump's own attempts at his own defense," he asked.
The former senior prosecutor for special counsel Robert Mueller, Andrew Weissmann, cited former chief of staff Mark Meadows, who has also been brought in under the federal trial.
"This is where Trump has to circle the wagons, and Mark Meadows is a really good example," he explained. "We know for a fact that he has now been indicted in the state case. What we don't know is what his status is in the federal case. It is possible that he was cooperating. If the indictment doesn't really look like sort of full cooperation, this is a possibility, it is possible he was immunized and sort of partially gave evidence, and it's possible he's not cooperating at all. Either way, at this point the state charges are — obviously this puts more pressure on Mark Meadows to fully cooperate."
He went on to call it the "biggest unknown" for any potential pressure special counsel Jack Smith or District Attorney Fani Willis will use in their respective cases to pressure Trump allies.
"Saying 'I did something wrong. I committed a crime,' just doesn't seem like something that would happen absent his being charged and absent real responsibility on his part, and I could see him having to plead guilty to something if he wanted to be that kind of cooperating witness," said Weissmann. "That is the biggest question I see here compared to all the other unindicted co-conspirators in the other case."
See the full conversation in the video below or at the link here.
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