Donald Trump’s future just came into clear focus

For the past month there have been major media reports about the DOJ asking January 6th Capitol attackers, as they’ve pleaded guilty, to formally attest that they felt they were acting under Donald Trump’s instruction. It appears the DOJ is amassing cooperating witnesses against Trump in case it does end up bringing charges against him.

But regardless of what the DOJ ends up doing, Trump is now being dragged into the legal system from a different angle. One January 6th attacker, who is looking to go to trial and prove his innocence, is asking the judge in the case for permission to subpoena Trump as a hostile witness. The defendant’s argument will be that he can’t be guilty, because the then-President of the United States ordered him to do it.

This early on there’s no way to know whether the judge in this case will actually allow Trump to be subpoenaed, or what would happen when Trump inevitably appealed such a subpoena, or what any given jury would think of such a defense. There are too many variables to make any specific predictions about this particular trial. But now that one defendant is trying this strategy, other January 6th attackers will surely try the same.

But the larger point is this: January 6th Capitol attackers who are pleading guilty and not guilty are now putting the legal blame squarely at Donald Trump’s feet. At some point it’ll reach critical mass, with the DOJ deciding it has enough cooperating witnesses to bring a case against Trump, or with a judge in one of these trials deciding to subpoena Trump.

In the meantime, it’s clear that Trump’s future will consist of little more than spending every day trying to fend off this kind of thing – and failing eventually. Of course once New York and Georgia inevitably indict Trump on state charges, he may have to split his time between being forced to testify in other people’s criminal trials, and having to appear at his own criminal trials.