MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough has been steadfast in his relentless criticism of former President Donald Trump and his mishandling of classified documents — but even he agrees with former Attorney General Bill Barr that an indictment is ultimately good. can do more damage.
On Thursday morning, Scarborough honed in on possible repercussions that could result in Trump being charged after the US government recovered more than 320 classified documents from Mar-a-Lago since January, including the most recent FBI raid. 103 were confiscated. Ultimately, the host concurred with Barr’s comment in a recent Fox News interview that the Justice Department would be better off in the long run, but not subject the country to a prolonged legal battle with the former president.
Scarborough said, “If they are impeached, as the law would suggest they should be impeached, you can bet your bottom dollar that Republicans will do everything they can, a Republican administration, Which is the next Democratic predecessor he has,” Scarborough said.
He continued: “You know, one of the reasons why Jerry Ford won his profile in courage is because he is willing to abdicate the presidency to prevent the longstanding national nightmare for which Richard Nixon was responsible. Over time, when people calmed down, they decided it was best for our republic. I think what Donald Trump has done is so serious that any attorney general, any impartial attorney general There would be no option to indict him. But it is also not true that it would set, as Barr was saying, an absolutely terrible precedent.
Scarborough acknowledged that Barr was “asking the right questions” when considering the possible fallout from the DOJ indictment. Although he acknowledged that the lack of action against Trump could upset Democrats, he felt the subsequent blow would not be worth it.
“The government can accuse Donald Trump, they have a case to accuse Donald Trump of,” Scarborough said. “Then Barr asks the question that certainly won’t be popular with many people who watch the show, won’t be popular among many Democrats, but asks the question: Should they accuse him?”
John Heilman acknowledged that political retaliation for targeting Trump would represent a major obstacle moving forward. However, he argued that the former president should also be held to a legal standard to prevent similar behavior from the Commander-in-Chief in the future.
“I’m afraid this will be the door that’s going to open here,” Heilmann said. “Still, I can’t believe – and I think you and I agree about that – I can’t believe you’d want to set another precedent, which is that a president can quit, could steal a bunch of documents, get them sent to his private home, including top secret documents… and we’ll let that president get away with it. You set a precedent in any case of it.”
