Trump readying earthquake scheme if midterms leave him in a 'black hole': insider

President Donald Trump has prepared an earthquake-type scheme to thwart the impact of the midterm elections if Democrats take back control of Congress, according to one White House insider.

Maggie Haberman, White House correspondent for The New York Times, argued during a new episode of "The Court of History" podcast that Trump may deploy a two-pronged scheme if Republicans suffer steep losses. On one hand, Trump could issue a number of pardons to officials who would face congressional inquiries. On the other, his administration officials would thwart any inquiries Democrats launch.

"Normally, I can look past a midterm cycle in a lame duck president's term and see generally where it's going. I look past November, and it's something of a black hole because Trump, when he feels cornered, tends to be more wild," Haberman said.
"And, I don't think we know what it looks like when an entire government doesn't respond to subpoenas."

Trump has been a focal point in the Democrats' messaging as the midterm approach, and the party has promised to impeach the president if they win back control of Congress. The president seems aware of this risk, and recently dispatched his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to meet with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), according to reports.

Haberman said Democrats will likely subpoena financial records of the Trump and Witkoff sons in their inquiries. They will also likely subpoena records from the various CEOs who attended Trump's inauguration, such as Amazon's Jeff Bezos and SpaceX's Elon Musk.

"He has made very clear ... that he's going to pardon any number of people who have come within a certain radius of the Oval Office," Haberman said.

While those inquiries seem commonsense, they also play right into Trump's scheme, Haberman suggested. All of the inquiries would require Trump administration officials to participate in order to proceed, and the Trump administration has already shown a propensity to disobey court orders.

"What happens if the entire Trump administration basically doesn't comply?" Haberman asked rhetorically. "Then you have contempt of Congress referrals going to Attorney General Todd Blanche. I don't really see that becoming a big rush on Blanche's part. So, I don't know what this looks like, but Trump doesn't seem especially afraid."