As the call for impeachment comes down to the wire, President Trump can choose to fight or flee. A former Trump Organization VP believes he'll do the latter.
Sitting United States President Donald Trump has found himself knee-deep in impeachment waters. Following a whistleblower's complaint against him, both he and his administration have been struggling to stay afloat. The whistleblower claimed the President had engaged in rather scandalous conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which he demanded that the Eastern European nation investigate Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden's involvement on the board of an oil company. After a second whistleblower came forward to corroborate the story, it appears that Trump is faced with two options - fight or flight. According to a former Trump Organization executive, he may choose the latter, CNN reports.
Speaking with CNN's Reliable Sources on Sunday, October 6, former Trump Organization vice president Barbara Res revealed that she believes Trump will resign in order to avoid impeachment altogether. Though he's been fighting the possibility, his impeachment may become a reality all too soon. "He does a lot of things to save face," she stated. "It would be very, very, very bad for him to be impeached. I don’t know that he’ll be found guilty, but I don’t know that he wants to be impeached. I think that’s what this panic is about. And my gut tells me he’ll leave office, he’ll resign. Or make some kind of a deal, even, depending on what comes out." Res did caution, however, that she "could very well be wrong" regarding her assertions.
The former executive has, of course, been a longtime critic of the President. Leading up to the 2016 Presidential election, she had accused him of mistreating women and called him a "supreme sexist." In addition to this, she has been vocal about how she believes Trump is "unfit for office," largely due to his lack of political experience. While Res is not his only critic, she is perhaps the only individual to have previously worked with the former business pundit to come forward with some clues about what his strategy may look like in the coming months.
Meanwhile, the Democratic party has further unified and hastened the call for impeachment, placing greater pressure on the GOP to counter-attack. Recently, new Democratic subpoenas hit the Pentagon and the Office of Management and Budget in order to maintain the investigation's momentum. The White House, too, has been sent numerous requests for documents. Should Trump officials deny these requests, they could face legal repercussions. Most notably, however, Democrats have convinced United States Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland to deliver a closed-door deposition. After a second whistleblower corroborated the first official's story, Sondland will be the latest official to know of the President's dealings with Ukraine to narrate his story. The Democratic party expects this move to tighten the impeachment noose around the GOP, CNN reports. With the 2020 Presidential elections a little more than a year away, poll experts question how the call for impeachment will affect President Trump's chances of winning a second term. Perhaps, like former President Richard Nixon, Trump will become privy to the potential loss of political support and simply resign - as many believe he rightly should.