,
8 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
1. So here we go Lisa, though I fear it won’t be a very satisfying answer: prosecutors can never use someone’s decision to invoke their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination for legal or tactical advantage. Here’s how that typically plays out...
2. A suspect is arrested. The police want to interrogate him so they read him his Miranda rights (right to remain silent, right to an attorney, etc.). The suspect invokes his 5th A right to remain silent. We can in no way use that against him because...
3. if you penalize the suspect for invoking his constitution right to silence then it undercuts the very purpose of that constitutional protection. So if a defendant is on trial & a detective testifies that when he tried to interrogate the suspect he invoked his right to silence
4. that likely would result in a mistrial because a jury would draw negative inferences from the fact that the suspect invoked. Turning to Mueller: Trump refused to sit for a voluntary interview. If Mueller served him with grand jury subpoena, that would have been...
5. fought in the courts, up to the Supreme Court. IMO, SCOTUS would have ruled that a president CAN be subpoenaed. However, Trump would then have appeared before the grand jury and invoked the 5th. The 5th A wins out over the grand jury subpoena, so Trump would not testify...
6. unless Mueller granted Trump immunity, which he wouldn’t do because that would make it harder to prosecute Trump once he left office. And here’s the kicker - the fact that Trump had invoked before the grand jury is protected by grand jury secrecy rules so ...
7. the public would never know (and Mueller’s team certainly wouldn’t disclose that info.). This is how the whole thing likely would have played out. Accordingly, as satisfying as it might have been to hear that Trump “took the 5th” it just wasn’t gonna happen. Of course the...
8. tactically-challenged Rep Maloney stumbled into the danger zone by saying, “the president never invoked the 5th amendment,” to which Mueller responded, “I’m not going to talk to that.” Question answered. Trump’s lawyers obviously told Mueller Trump would take the 5th in the GJ
