Trump keeps hinting he may reject the election results. Is his true goal an immunity deal?

By putting his peaceful departure into question, Trump may succeed in making it a bargaining chip he can trade in for protection from prosecution.

Donald Trump has spent the past few months delegitimizing the November election any way he can. “This is going to be a fraud like you’ve never seen,” he told tens of millions of Americans this week during the first presidential debate. “It’s a rigged election.” 

Is he giving us fair warning of how far he will go to hold onto the presidency? Perhaps. But it is also possible that Trump’s goal is to gain leverage in negotiating an exit deal that includes post-presidential immunity for himself — and maybe even his immediate family.  

Though the race has tightened slightly since midsummer polls showed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with a nearly unprecedented lead over a presidential incumbent, it is still likely that Trump will lose in November. That will open him to prosecution for potential crimes committed before and during his tenure in office. By putting his peaceful departure from the White House into question, Trump could succeed in making it a bargaining chip he can trade in for protection from prosecution. 

Trading power for immunity

For autocratic heads of state in other countries, holding on to power has put them in a position to negotiate an exit that doesn’t include trials or prison. The wave of protests and revolutions that erupted in the Arab Spring in 2011 showed this starkly. Ousted from power in Egypt, Hosni Mubarak was put on trial. In Libya, Moammar Gadhafi held on to the bitter end as some diplomats floated incentives like immunity from war crimes prosecution and safe passage to another country. In Yemen, longtime president Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to give up power after being granted immunity from prosecution. In 2017, Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe stepped down in exchange for immunity and a $10 million payout, according to The Guardian. 

Former special counsel Robert Mueller detailed 10 examples of possible obstruction of justice in his 2019 report and noted that while Trump had temporary protection under a Justice Department policy against indicting sitting presidents, others could follow the evidence — and legal experts say there was plenty. In addition, subsequent developments suggest Trump may have lied to Mueller’s investigators. His primary interest in holding on to office might be to allow for the expiration of the five-year statute of limitations in obstruction of justice cases

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/10/01/donald-trump-peaceful-departure-immunity-from-prosecution-column/3573454001/