Ari Melber on Tuesday broke down how former President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to swerve criminal investigations with his unprecedented early November 2022 declaration to again run for president actually backfired.
The host of MSNBC’s “The Beat” likened the Republican 2024 front-runner’s situation to the mythological tale of Oedipus.
Melber noted how Attorney General Merrick Garland announced special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection and the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case just days after Trump’s declaration.
Garland’s decision was “based on recent developments, including the former president’s announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election,” he said at the time.
Had Trump announced his candidacy several months later, suggested Melber, then Smith’s findings may not have been ready until too close to the election, and Department of Justice guidelines would have made it very hard for any action to result from them.
“Without Trump’s early campaign announcement, there’s no special counsel Jack Smith. It is the ultimate Greek tragedy. Donald Trump trying to outrun his fate and sealing it, playing himself,” said Melber.
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