Attorney General Merrick Garland (left) and former President Donald Trump (right).
Sean Rayford/Alex Wong/Getty Images
- A Harvard Law professor said he thinks Trump will be indicted by the Justice Department.
- Laurence Tribe is the former professor of US Attorney General Merrick Garland.
- “He said he’d go to the top if that’s where the evidence points and that’s certainly where it’s pointing now,” Tribe said.
Laurence Tribe, a professor at Harvard Law School who taught Attorney General Merrick Garland, believes his former student will indict former President Donald Trump over the January 6 insurrection.
Tribe made the prediction during an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer days after explosive testimony was delivered during the House Select Committee’s latest January 6 hearing.
Blitzer asked if, given the latest revelations and developments, Tribe thought the US Justice Department would indict Trump.
“Well, I wish I knew, but Merrick Garland is a friend and a former student of mine. He’s an honest man,” Tribe began. “He said he’d go to the top if that’s where the evidence points and that’s certainly where it’s pointing now.”
Tribe said some recent searches by federal agents, including the seizure of former Trump lawyer John Eastman’s phone, provide “strong evidence that the Justice Department is not stopping with the foot soldiers. It’s going to the generals, and the biggest general of all of course is Donald Trump.”
“I do think the odds are he will be indicted,” Tribe said. After Blitzer pressed him on whether or not he thought Garland would bring the indictment against Trump, Tribe reiterated: “If I had to guess, that would be my guess.”
The January 6 committee has said it has enough evidence to ask the Justice Department to indict Trump.
Insider’s Camila DeChalus reported that the committee is likely gathering evidence to accuse Trump of charges that include conspiracy to defraud the government, obstructing an official proceeding, wire fraud, and witness tampering.
But experts said Trump could mount a strong legal defense.
Tribe said if he were indicting Trump would be worried about the possibility of a hung jury due to a person being on it who believes Trump can “do no wrong.” He said he would also be worried about the potential unrest an indictment could cause.
“I certainly recognize that indicting a former president would generate lots of social heat, perhaps violence,” he said. “But not indicting him would invite another violent insurrection.”
