Former President Donald Trump will “sell out” members of his own family if he’s indicted, including his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner predicted Friday.
Trump, who is running in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, is facing several investigations into his conduct in the later days of his presidency, including his alleged attempts to overthrow the 2020 presidential race and whether he improperly stored classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
Although Trump has not been formally charged with a crime, legal experts have warned that the threat of a possible indictment remains for the former president.
Kirschner, a legal analyst, warned that Trump could turn on some of his family members during an appearance on The Stephanie Miller Show. He suggested Trump could offer information about Ivanka and Kushner, both of whom worked as advisers during the Trump administration, in hopes of earning a plea deal.
“Do you think he’s going to stand up for anybody about whom he has dirt? Are you kidding me? He will sell out everybody, including, I believe, his family members. Jared, perhaps even Ivanka in order to get himself a better deal. Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s going to go to the art of the deal to the art of the plea deal,” Kirschner said.
He also made similar remarks during an episode of his Justice Matters podcast earlier in the week. Kirschner predicted that Trump will indeed be indicted, potentially first in the Georgia probe into his alleged attempt to thwart the state’s election results in 2020.
He also predicted that Trump will “give up everybody to try to save himself.”
“That’s what narcissists do. They sacrifice everybody else to save themselves, even if it’s only to save themselves one year in prison, one day in prison, one hour in prison. Or maybe just for spite, because they deserve to be thrown under the bus,” Kirschner said.
Former federal prosecutor Shanlon Wu told Newsweek on Saturday that he has a different stance on whether Trump will turn on his family. While he agrees that “Trump’s personality indicates that he has no great loyalty,” he said parents rarely implicate their children in legal proceedings.
Furthermore, he said prosecutors would be unlikely to offer Trump a plea deal, as doing so would run contrary to their typical strategy, and he is unsure it would offer anything of value to implicate family members. Prosecutors typically try to receive information from people close to the center of a crime, which would likely be Trump, Wu explained.
“I think from a practical standpoint, the biggest issue is that it seems unlikely that prosecutors would offer him a deal as he appears to be the main prize,” he said.
Former U.S. Attorney Gene Rossi told Newsweek on Saturday, “Although Glenn Kirschner is a hero to me, I respectfully disagree. I think even Donald Trump, whose moral compass has a lot to be desired, will not take that extra step and flip like a pancake and point his finger and his daughter and his son-in-law. Even Trump has limits.”
Ivanka, Jared Kushner subpoenaed in key Trump probe
Kirschner predicting that Trump could throw his family members under the bus comes as Ivanka and Kushner were called to testify in a key Trump investigation.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into Trump’s conduct surrounding the 2020 presidential election—which he has repeatedly claimed was stolen by widespread voter fraud, despite a lack of substantial evidence—subpoenaed them to testify about what they know about the former president’s involvement in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol building by his supporters.
Despite the looming threat of an indictment, Trump has maintained his innocence in each legal case against him, accusing prosecutors of launching politically-motivated investigations aimed at weakening his 2024 challenge to President Joe Biden.
Wu said that, despite these subpoenas, he does not believe that a charging decision from the DOJ is imminent, but that the Justice Department is taking “correct, proactive steps” in the case.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s office and Kirschner for comment.
Update 2/25/2023, 1:27 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from former U.S. Attorney Gene Rossi.
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