During a CNN panel discussion on Vice President Mike Pence being subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith, senior CNN political analyst Dana Bash suggested Donald Trump's advisors are whistling past the graveyard in the belief that the former president won't be indicted by the Department of Justice.
Speaking with host Jim Sciuto, a smiling Bash labeled their hopes that Trump won't be hauled into court "wishful thinking."
As CNN reported on Friday morning, the Pence subpoena, "marks an important milestone in the Justice Department’s two-year criminal investigation, now led by the special counsel, into the efforts by Trump and allies to impede the transfer of power after he lost the 2020 election.
"Pence is an important witness who has detailed in a memoir some of his interactions with Trump in the weeks after the election, a move that likely opens the door for the Justice Department to override at least some of Trump’s claims of executive privilege."
Taking up the subject, host Sciutto offered, "[CNN legal analyst] Paula Reid was telling me that the Trump camp's view of this is, 'yeah, it may be moving along and getting closer to the end here.'"
"Their expectation is there's going to be a press conference at some point saying that Trump behaved badly, but there is no evidence to indict," he added before asking, "Is that the view you hear from the Trump camp as well?"
'That's the wishful thinking from the Trump camp, no question about it," Bash replied, adding, "Because it is so unprecedented that their hope is that he will fall on, frankly, some good luck like he has in so many of these horrible situations that he has put himself in."
"What is interesting about what Paula said with regard to the immediate question about his former vice president, Mike Pence, and getting the subpoena is that after there had been negotiations for a very long time between Pence and his legal team and the special counsel, that they clearly just hit a wall," she elaborated.
"I'm told that this is something that the former vice president did not invite, when it comes to a subpoena, with eagerness. Yes, they understood, because they understand how this works, that a subpoena would likely happen, if, in fact, these negotiations broke down, but the notion of sort of putting out there that Mike Pence is not eager to comply with the subpoena is very important politically because this is a man who is very, very actively considering another run in a Republican Party where there is still a lot of support for his former boss who, of course, is also running."
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CNN 02 10 2023 09 01 49youtu.be
