Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said early Wednesday morning on “Fox & Friends First” that President Donald Trump better not plead the Fifth in Robert Mueller‘s Russia probe or else he will be inviting disaster.
In the morning, Napolitano responded to the leak of Mueller’s questions for Trump and reports that Mueller has considered subpoenaing Trump to appear before a grand jury, which would not be something Trump could avoid.
He minced no words, saying that pleading the Fifth in the grand jury situation would be a “catastrophic” move.
“If he goes before the special counsel, he’s not under oath and it’s voluntary. If he goes before a grand jury, he is under oath, and it’s not voluntary. He has to go,” he said. “Legally, it would protect [Trump], but politically it would be catastrophic for this president who said he can’t wait to tell his story to plead the Fifth.”
Trump’s history, for instance, of criticizing those pleading the Fifth would not go over well, particularly the line “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”
But by the afternoon, Napolitano was brought on to react to the news that Ty Cobb was retiring and that Emmet Flood, who once represented Bill Clinton during impeachment proceedings, would be replacing Cobb.
“I can tell you that Emmet Flood is a top-shelf, A-plus, top-of-the-line, nothing-short-of-brilliant litigator,” he said. “This very late in the game for a change of this magnitude. There is no one on the president’s team who has been there since day one.”
“This also tells me that the president finally recognizes how serious the Mueller probe is,” Napolitano added.
[Image via Fox News screengrab]