Senator blasts Trump crimes: 'There are indictments in his future'

One day, Trump will probably be indicted for an array of crimes — and that day could very well come while he’s still in office.

That’s the view of Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a former U.S. Attorney, former attorney general of Connecticut, and a member of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee.

“There are indictments in this president’s future,” Blumenthal told hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski Thursday morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“They’re coming,” Blumenthal added. “Whether they’re after his presidency or during it.”

Blumenthal mentioned the crimes Trump and his campaign may have committed with the help of Vladimir Putin, as well as “obstruction of justice that was done by the president of the United States in real time.”

Scarborough noted that Trump could escape justice for criminal activity, like the felonies he allegedly directed his attorney Michael Cohen to commit, if he is re-elected in 2020 — because the statute of limitations on some crimes will come before 2024.

When Scarborough mentioned a longstanding Department of Justice opinion advising against indicting a sitting president, Blumenthal dismissed that policy.

“The Supreme Court is under no obligation to give it any weight,” Blumenthal said. “It deserves no weight, in my humble opinion.”

Another Democratic lawmaker is working on a fix for the statute of limitations problem, which Trump could use to avoid accountability.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) is writing legislation that would extend the statute of limitations on crimes committed by presidents. “I don’t think any person should be above the law,” Swalwell said recently, and added that he believes indictments are in store for Trump one way or another.

Blumenthal and Swalwell are part of a growing chorus of members of Congress who believe Trump faces indictment. In December 2018, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who now chairs the House Intelligence Committee, said he thinks there is “a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the Justice Department may indict him, and that Trump “may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time.”

Trump’s own Department of Justice implicated him in an illegal scheme to use hush money to silence alleged mistresses prior to the 2016 election. Trump’s longtime lawyer and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, is going to prison for his part in that and other crimes. Cohen has stated that Trump directed him to make the hush money payments.

At the moment, the Trump campaign, the Trump Foundation, Trump’s inaugural committee, and Trump himself are all under state or federal investigation for a variety of potential illegal activity. Trump’s former campaign chair, deputy campaign chair, and a handful of people from the Trump campaign are facing jail time for a litany of crimes.

And if Blumenthal is correct, Trump will soon join them.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.