The Hill reports that Republicans anticipate former President Donald Trump will be indicted after the midterm elections.
The outlet based its reporting on anonymous “Republican aides on Capitol Hill and veteran party strategists.”
The Hill states up front that these Republicans “emphasize they don’t have any inside information on what [Attorney General Merrick] Garland might do.”
Background
For some time now, Garland has been under significant pressure from the Democrats to indict Trump for something. The Democrats are still desperately trying to get rid of Trump – their top political opponent – particularly before the 2024 presidential election.
In terms of what Trump would be charged with, there are two different possibilities. One is that Garland would charge Trump with some crime related to the Capitol protest of Jan. 6, 2021. The other possibility is Garland charging Trump with a violation of the Espionage Act, as Trump, during the recent FBI raid of his Mar-a-Lago residence, was discovered to illegally have confidential documents in his possession – something that Trump disputes.
There has been no real indication from Garland whether he intends to pursue either of these routes. But, it’s probably worth remembering that Garland did sign off on the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago.
The key: timing
The Republicans with whom The Hill spoke seemed to base their prediction – of a post-midterm indictment of Trump by Garland – largely on timing.
The Republicans are essentially saying that if Trump is going to be indicted, it’s going to come within a narrow timeframe after the midterm elections.
Some predicted a timeframe of within “a couple of weeks” of the midterms, while others predicted, “within the next 60 to 90 days.”
Why timing is so important:
The chances are that we have not seen a pre-midterm indictment of Trump by Garland because the Democrats feared that it might backfire on them. After all, just about every time the Democrats try to go after Trump, that’s what happens – it backfires.
The reason why Republican believe that Garland, if he is going to indict Trump, will indict Trump soon after the midterms is the same: to try to prevent the indictment from backfiring on the Democrats in the 2024 elections, when Trump is expected to be on the ballot.
All of this seems to be highly speculative. But, a possible Trump indictment is something to keep an eye out for. The Democrats are desperate to get rid of him.