I saw an article this morning from Newsweek that opens with considerable flare:
Molly Michael, the former Donald Trump aide who is now among the witnesses testifying in his classified documents case, is the “witness from hell” for the former president, according to a legal analyst.
Okay…. They sure as hell didn’t bury the lede now did they? I’ll get into this more but let’s backtrack a moment. Mark Meadows could have been the Witness from Hell for Trump but he’s had a habit of trying to dance along the edge of the razor blade. As Chief of Staff Meadows knows damned near everything and even to some extent took active part in facilitating Trump’s Big Lie and of course January 6. And the chaotic move from the WH where all those documents included classified National Security documents that should have gone to the National Archives or in the case of classified stuff back to the originating authority. Meadows however has tried to get cute with investigators and prosecutors, providing what he hoped was just enough information and/or cooperation to make them leave him alone. But not so much as to incur the wrath of Trump and MAGA.
Meadows could have and should have cut himself a cooperation deal early on but as I said, he’s danced along the razor blade and his feet are all cut up. The cuts are getting a lot deeper and at this point while prosecutors might like to have him finally come clean, they don’t really need him to. So he’s past the point where even if he cuts a deal he’s not getting mere probation and will do at least some time in prison. Also, by now he’s got credibility issues out the wazoo which means so-called “star witness” treatment for Meadows is but a pipe-dream. He tried to play games. And lost.
Enter Molly Michael. Although not in some lofty role with the fancy title and getting to hang out with big-shots during non-working hours like Meadows she saw damned near all the stuff that went on in the Oval Office. As Trump’s assistant she routinely shuffled paperwork in and out, placed and received/put through phone calls and kept records of all that “mundane” stuff higher-ups pay little attention to. Keeping track of all that and maintaining required records is what they have staffers like Molly Michael for! From her deposition to the J6 Committee when asked about her duties:
Yes. I answered the phone. I took messages. I responded to emails. 13 communicated messages to the President. I communicated incoming phone calls to 14 him. I relayed messages and placed phone calls for him. I communicated his schedule 15 to him when he had another meeting arrive. I put meetings on his schedule as he 16 requested. And I coordinated with the chief of staff.
Here’s the best part though. She started working for Trump back in 2018, then followed him down to FL when he admitted defeat and moved out of the WH. She goes back before Meadows! More importantly, as I’ve noted she saw and heard almost as much as Meadows did. The difference between Molly Michael and Mark Meadows is that when push came to shove, she wasn’t risking going to prison for Trump. A “see no evil, hear no evil” way of earing her paycheck was one thing, but getting wrapped up in over acts of obstruction of justice was too much. As a result she quit last year. Not only that, she’s cooperated with prosecutors. In case you didn’t know if you read the FL indictment Michael apparently is Employee #2.
Some have chosen to risk prison for Donald Trump. It seems Molly Michael has turned out NOT to be one of them. She was Trump’s assistant for years, well before all the efforts and planning to steal the election culminating in the riot to block Biden’s certification as the winner means Trump and others were used to her being around. She worked in the “outer Oval” and as the above job description makes clear coordinated with Meadows! To an extant she was as I wrote in a previous article to Trump what Cassidy Hutchinson was to Meadows.
We now know some of what she has to say when she testifies in Trump’s FL trial. Stuff like the moving of boxes and being told “you don’t know anything about boxes” and the now infamous using the back of classified documents as scrap paper for starters. However he name has also come up regarding the DC trial on January 6. I think it’s safe to say we’ll be hearing a lot more from and about Molly Michael for a long time to come. Hence the headline and lede of the Newsweek article, which includes a helluva comment from legal analyst/pundit Harry Litman. I don’t know how to embed a tweet like in the article but he says:
It’s not just that Molly Michael confirms obstructionist statements to Corcoran and fields her own hush statement from him. It’s also that she is an unblemished witness, totally credible, not vulnerable or impeachable on criminal charges. For Trump, she’s the witness from hell.
It’s no wonder Trump’s increasingly freaking the hell out. Way back when the Mueller investigation was picking up Trump wasn’t initially worried about his first WH Counsel Don McGahn, figuring attorney/client privilege had him covered. When it was explained that no, as WH Counsel McGahn worked not for the President but the taxpayers and nothing Trump spoke with/to him about was privileged (thanks in large measure to GOPers that went after President Clinton!) Trump is said to have gone pale and uttered something to the effect “OMG, I told him everything!” I’d imagine these days he’s having a similar reaction when Molly Michael’ s name comes up. Something along the lines of a gross scene from South Park where Mr. Mackey is having a “problem”:
It might even be sinking in on Meadows that between his own aide Cassidy Hutchinson and now Molly Michael that prosecutors simply don’t need him, and that he IS going to prison. Meaning he’ll be having the same reaction.
How ironic all these ‘pussy grabbers’ are being brought low by the gate keepers of said anatomy. And those who believe in ‘God’ don’t believe ‘God’ has a sense of humor/irony. I beg to differ.
It’s amazing how many women with balls there are — and always have been. Doesn’t fit with the stereotype of the second class sex, the subservient sex, any of that.