THREAD. I am failing to see any better path for Trump apart from resignation. (Yes, I know you will say, "He'll never do that" but also did you ever think three days ago that he'd be impeached twice?) Here's me as HIS (competent) lawyer:

2. You will be impeached. Your goal now is to avoid criminal liability, and, if possible, jail time. If you resign now, you avoid several unpleasant possibilities. For one, you make the potential for an invocation of the 25th amendment, on the basis that you are CRAZY, moot
3. If you resign, and Mike Pence becomes President, he will likely give you a limited, but nevertheless broad, pardon. If he emulates Ford's pardon for Nixon, you will be pardoned for (at the very least) obstruction of justice in the Mueller investigation
4. He MAY be able to give you a pardon for crimes committed BEFORE you took office, such as your campaign finance violation, or whatever sketchy financial crimes you committed, but that is touch and go. There is *some* ambiguity over whether such a "blanket" pardon is valid BUT
5. You could also mitigate this by being frank with him and allowing him to be as specific as possible on your prior criminal liability in the pardoning language (like financial crimes re taxes, etc.). He is, however, unlikely to pardon you for inciting insurrection BECAUSE...
6. You literally almost got him killed and he hates you for that, plus he has political ambitions. But here, the real outcome is that no one wants to see you in public office ever again. SO, there are a couple of possibilities:
7. After impeachment, the Senate may convict you and then vote to prohibit you from holding public office. You know what, screw them, right? Haha. (cough) So...the other possibility is that alternatively/addition to, you get investigated for and charged for inciting insurrection
8. BUT if you plead guilty to Rebellion and Insurrection INSTEAD, *and* AGREE not to hold public office again, they MIGHT grant you a deal, with no jail time! That sounds good, huh? *awkward encouraging laugh*
9. *clears throat* So here's the problem. You have to show that you take some kind of responsibility. Some remorse. Resigning now does that. THAT is what helped Nixon. He resigned. Prosecuting him after that just seemed a little extra, you know?
10. You at least give your allies some basis to argue, enough is enough! He did the same thing as Nixon! But *ominous music* you are facing a potentially far worse fate. For one thing, your only option is to pardon yourself
11. This is very risky, because it will basically guarantee that you will be prosecuted for SOMETHING when you leave office, as Asha Rangappa so eloquently argued in The Washington Post (😀) https://t.co/WVu2yBkhnr
12. Plus, you will have absolutely NO good faith argument to suggest that you have already incurred enough of a punishment (resigning/accepting accountability + not ever running for public office again) to justify leniency as a former POTUS
13. And you'll be totally screwed because if SCOTUS rules against you the feds will TOTALLY nail your ass and the States are going to get you anyway.

So what do you think?
14. P.S. My assistant tells me there is a red eye to Moscow at 11:42 p.m. from Dulles and there is no extradition treat + Putin welcomes foreign heads of state to make their residence there. My job is to advise you of all your options.

More from Trump

1. Yes, Trump will claim to intend to target GOP senators up for reelection in '22 (like he did to Thune with Kristi Noem) if they don't join in @HawleyMO's sedition on Jan. 6, but the fact is, it's not clear whether Trump will be successful in ANY of those efforts & voting yes


2. to hedge off these threats will also create fissures & fractures for these incumbents among other elements of their party that could complicate their renominations. Indeed, what worries me the most about the potential for the country to slip into @anneapplebaum territory is

3. that what should be robust and intense push back from the party establishment against actually ending democracy- bc that's what Trump's request would do, if it was granted, is fairly muted. What we SHOULD be seeing from the mainstream of the party is threats to strip committee

4. assignments, chairs, privileges, even reelection funds, if anyone gets involved in this bullshit- in the House & the Senate, and the fact that you don't see it is more than a story of McConnell & McCarthy being afraid of Trump & his base. Its a story of receptivity, of the

5. level of receptivity the congressional and party leadership is dealing with both within the rank and file membership of the party and within its donor class, and THAT, my friends, is why you find me so concerned. That, and my decision to finally pull @anneapplebaum's book
1. @NYGovCuomo became a pandemic star by contrasting himself with Trump

Cuomo crafted an IMAGE of being determined, honest and grounded in science

But 11 months later this image is falling apart

Follow along for a FACTUAL assessment of Cuomo's

2. Cuomo WROTE A BOOK, published in October, celebrating his own leadership during the pandemic.

Cuomo writes that NY had "confronted and defeated" the virus, and had "achieved what all the experts told us was impossible."

Today, things look

3. Today, New York has 338 people hospitalized with COVID per million residents.

This is the HIGHEST NUMBER IN ANY STATE by a considerable margin.

https://t.co/Hl4fsFxB6l


4. Overall, 46K New Yorkers have died of COVID, which trails only California (47K), a state with 2x as many people.

On a per capita basis, New York has had more deaths than every state but New Jersey.

Cuomo made decisions that made things

5. A new report by NY AG Letitia James (D) found Cuomo's order requiring nursing homes to accept residents w/COVID "may have put residents at increased risk of harm"

Cuomo dismissed criticisms of his nursing home policies in his book as

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