Politico Op-Ed Proposes Prosecutors Offer Bargain in Criminal Cases to Get Trump to Accept Election ResultsSearchSubscribeMy BookmarksEntertainmentStyleFoodDrinksSportsLifestyleNews & PoliticsArchiveNewsletterAbout UsFollowOther EditionsYour Privacy ChoicesPrivacy NoticeTerms Of UseSkip to ContentEntertainmentStyleLifestyleShoppingNews & PoliticsSubscribesign inSearch'The White Lotus' Is BackSeth Rogen is the BossBest Single Blade RazorsBest Sketches From SNL50The Best Button-Down EverNewsPolitics With Charles P. PierceIs Politico Drunk??? It’s the Only Explanation for This Op-EdIs Politico Drunk??? It’s the Only Explanation for This Op-EdGet this: A writer for Tiger Beat on the Potomac thinks prosecutors should strike a deal with Trump to get him to accept the 2024 election results.By Charles P. PiercePublished: Oct 24, 2024 4:26 PM EDTSave ArticlePool//Getty ImagesThe author’s bio sort of gives the game away. Feast your eyes upon it. From Tiger Beat on the Potomac:Juleanna Glover is CEO of Ridgely Walsh, a public affairs advisory firm based in D.C. She has advised a wide range of Republican candidates and officials, including Dick Cheney, Rudy Guiliani [sic], Steve Forbes and John Ashcroft.Ms. Glover has spent a lot of time warning people to avoid contributing to the former president*’s campaign on the sensible grounds that nobody knows where the money is going. Good for her. Welcome to the Big Tent—which is, please God, merely a temporary shelter. Please leave your bag here on the table so we can make sure you’re not smuggling in any really bad ideas.Like this one.One can imagine Trump would go to great lengths to avoid the years of courtroom battles that await him—including agitating his supporters to help him overturn the election if he loses again. The 2021 storming of the Capitol may have just been a warm-up act for 2025. But there’s a different scenario that could play out: one where it would be in Trump’s personal interest to be plainly honest about the electoral results if he is defeated. In the days after the election, Trump could negotiate a grand bargain with state and federal prosecutors that would defer or suspend the criminal cases against him and settle the civil fraud case (which was brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James). Think of it as the world’s most generous global settlement agreement.Okay, easy part first.No.There is absolutely no reason to believe that he would abide by any such agreement. I wouldn’t buy an apple from this sumbitch and I suspect I am not alone in feeling this way. I suspect several prosecutors share this sentiment. Certainly, there are glaziers and landscapers in New Jersey who do.  Ms. Glover must have a whole cabinet in her kitchen filled with magic beans.For Trump’s cases that have not yet gone to trial, this extraordinary deal could take the form of a pretrial diversion agreement, which is commonly used to avoid trials if defendants agree to stay out of trouble. For the two cases that have already gone to trial (the hush money case and the civil fraud case), Trump could secure a promise for reduced penalties. All he would have to do in return is abide by a promise to tell the truth about the election results.Hold on. I think my spleen just fell out of my nose.A promise he won’t tell lies anymore? Geez, I’ll have to scour the New York criminal law to see if such a draconian sentence doesn’t violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. I realize that several of Ms. Glover’s former clients—cough Dick Cheney cough—have skated on crimes through the Exalted Public Persons defense, but this would stretch that defense beyond recommended limits.In addition, what does this tawdry arrangement do for all the other defendants in these various crimes? Does the deal include a walk for Mark Meadows, John Eastman, and the rest of the accessories? Every free pass devalues the rule of law, and there would have to be a lot of them for this to work.Why would prosecutors—who have spent countless hours building these cases against him and want to see justice served—think this is a good idea? They would not. Because it’s not.As with every criminal prosecution, the reality is the defendant could be found not guilty in some or even all of the cases. The Supreme Court’s recent ruling granting presidents sweeping immunity is also sure to complicate the prosecutions. And a New York appeals court recently expressed skepticism about the size of the financial penalty in the civil fraud case.I think recent developments indicate quite clearly that prosecutor Jack Smith and Judge Tanya Chutkan feel up to the challenge thrown down by Chief Justice John Roberts and his carefully manufactured conservative majority. And I don’t think an appeals court is going to knock down a civil penalty that far.Additionally, Trump’s truthfulness about the election results is of incalculable value to the American people and our democracy. Is that important for the prosecutors (who represent “We the People”) in these cases? It should be.  Every prosecutor swears an oath to protect the Constitution. The American people were denied a peaceful transition of power in 2020, and a sequel in 2024 would only further erode democratic principles.Ah, it’s the “American people are made of Belgian lace and must not be treated roughly in any way” defense, the one that got Nixon pardoned, Iran-Contra ignored, and torture hand-waved into the root cellar of history. I am so sick of this. The American people were not “denied” a peaceful transition of power. It was brutally wrenched from their grasp by a pack of violent stick-up artists at the behest of a criminal boss. The American people deserve their days in court. 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Why would he honor that deal when he won’t respect the results of an election?

He won’t.