During a Newsmax interview following his Manhattan conviction last week on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business documents, Donald Trump suggested that he would imprison his political opponents if elected in November, according to NBC.
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Wednesday spoke with former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann about the danger of the former president's threat.
Mentioning that Weissmann participated in the 2017-2019 [former special counsel Robert] Mueller investigation into Trump regarding possible Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election, Wallace concluded, "I think people have to think of it as radically as it's being reported."
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The Deadline: White House host added, "There wouldn't be a Mueller investigation [under a second Trump presidency]. There wouldn't be a [former US Attorney General] Jeff Sessions — I mean, no one would last five minutes if they displeased [Trump]...It is such a departure from Trump 1.0, and I think there would be areas that would be a lot worse. But I think this is one that demands our focus in this moment."
Weissmann replied, "There were people — particularly at the start of the Trump 1.0 administration — that just won't be there. Jeff Sessions, whether you agree or disagree with his political views, and what he wanted to do with the department, he understood it needed to be independent. And, as we reported in the Mueller report, he himself gave the information about what it was that then-President Trump wanted him to do with respect to Hillary Clinton. And at that point, they got rid of him, and Bill Barr was his lackey."
He emphasized, "That is what would be the scope of a Trump 2.0. But you don't really have to worry about what would happen because you're seeing it right now."
The former FBI lawyer added, "There's all of the people who know much, much better and are going along with this. I keep using Senator [Susan] Collins (R-ME) as an example, because she knows damn well that this is fundamentally inconsistent with what it means to be a democracy under the rule of law, and is not saying anything. And that is the road to hell for this country."
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"It comes with such poor grace at this moment, when you have the Department of Justice prosecuting Democrats. You have Senator [Robert] Menendez (D-NJ) on trial right now. You have Hunter Biden on trial right now. So, you understand why a defendant like defendant Donald Trump would have this grievance with respect to the un-justice system, but what is so anathema to the rule of law and to our remaining a rule of law country, is all of the enablers, who don't see themselves as a Jeff Sessions or a [former Trump White House counsel] Don McGahn, and are will to be completely complicit with really the demise of this country's democracy."
Watch the video below or at this link.
'Road to hell': Ex-FBI counsel slams GOP rep 'complicit with the demise of this country’s democracy' www.youtube.com
