There has never been a president indicted in the United States, but that might change soon.
At the top of her Monday show, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow explained that there are a number of countries that have slowly eroded away at whatever democratic values they had, citing Russia and Israel as examples.
“I think it is worth us watching it in other countries to learn the pattern and also recognize the signs that we are not even immune,” she said. “In this country, our most prominent far-right leader has been subjected to multiple criminal and counterintelligence investigations by the FBI and Justice Department. And so, we have seen over the past several years that he has escalated, and escalated, and escalated further attacks on the Justice Department and the FBI to the point where not just him and his party considers the FBI to be an enemy and attack it at every turn.”
She cited Trump Republicans attacking the Justice Department and law enforcement they purported to support, noting that in three days, something major might change the U.S. forever.
“Thursday this week, former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump is likely to understand he is no longer just facing scrutiny and investigation from the law enforcement agency, but is likely to find out this week that he is about to be under court scrutiny as well,” said Maddow.
The judge overseeing the special grand jury in Fulton County decided today that three pieces of the final report would become public, those who lied to the grand jury, as well as the introduction and conclusion.
“The bottom line is a big picture story for our democracy,” she explained. “Trump may not find himself being charged in Georgia, just as he may not find himself being charged in New York state. He might not find himself being charged in federal court where multiple grand juries are investigating him. It’s possible he will not face charges in any of these places. But if he is, the process of adjusting as a democracy is about to start now.”
She anticipates what could happen if Trump is indicted by the Fulton County grand jury.
“And if you thought it was a bad look for our American version of ‘one of these guys’ to be attacking the press for challenging him, to be attacking the FBI and Justice Department for investigating him, then what is around the corner for our democracy if he is indicted?” Maddow asked. “What is around the corner from us is if he is indicted is an attack on the specific system, the specific system that holds the power to indict him and potentially arrest him and put him in court and put them on trial.”
It’s entirely possible that the next step for Donald Trump is to try and burn down the entire system of democracy in the U.S, Maddow argues.
See the clip of her opener below or at the video here:
Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license