Few people know failed, one-term former President Donald Trump as well as Bloomberg editor Tim O’Brien, who has authored a biography of the Donald and even seen the ex-president’s tax returns.
Those tax returns, according to the IRS, can be handed over to Congress, and that was the topic of discussion when O’Brien appeared on CNN Monday and told host Jim Sciutto the legal wrangling over Congress getting those returns could go on for years:
“I’m assuming they are looking at this and still challenge it on the grounds that the DOJ, Bill Barr’s DOJ blocked the release which was, that congress was just engaging in a fishing expedition and it wasn’t pursuant to Congress’s oversight authority or legislation and therefore it should be stopped. I imagine they’ll try to challenge that in court but they’re going to have an uphill battle with that.”
That led Sciutto to ask:
“So if it comes to Congress, if the tax returns come to Congress, are they now effectively public? Will you and I and people here watching here be able to see them?”
O’Brien responded:
“I suspect we will at some point. I think Congress is going to have to be judicious and I think circumspect about how they post these. There is a lot of, I think, issues around the separation of powers and checks and balances that rides as much on trust as it does on the rule of law.”
Sciutto then laid out the many legal problems facing Trump, which led to his next question for O’Brien:
“So the president has multiple legal tracks, perilous ones underway right now. I mean you have an investigation, one in the state of Georgia into his efforts to overturn the election. You have the Manhattan DA’s continued case and indictment, in fact of the Trump Organization. Now you have this, at least exposing — we don’t know if there is criminal behavior — but exposing what the president has tried to conceal for some time. What is the political effect of that for a person who remains the choice of most, at least, Republicans for the [presidential] nominee in 2024?”
That’s when O’Brien made a prediction that’s certain to send a shiver of fear down Donald Trump’s spine:
“I think the Manhattan DA’s investigation is still the most perilous for him; that is a criminal investigation that is still a possibility that there is an orange jumpsuit waiting for Donald Trump at the end of that process.
“I don’t know that any of his core supporters would care about any of this. I think the real issue is what do traditional conservative Republicans and moderate voters think about it in a general election and that is really the meat of the issue.”
Donald Trump can run for president again if he wants to, but based on the many shoes yet to drop in the investigations of him and his company, it’s hard to believe he could ever win another election, even if he cheats. The majority of Americans are sick and tired of the hatred and vitriol Trump brings to the table. He’s a failed, broken man who is likely facing incarceration and is also failing physically and mentally. If he even makes it to 2024 without suffering a debilitating physical illness, that alone will be a miracle.
Here’s Tim O’Brien on CNN:
