In a growing trend, former associates and supporters are increasingly turning against Donald Trump in the four legal cases he currently faces.
The reason is clear: self-preservation.
"People don't want to get into trouble, they don't want to be convicted of a crime, they don't want to go to jail," says Betsy Woodruff Swan, a national correspondent at Politico, in an interview with MSNBC.
This realization has apparently dawned on many of the co-defendants as legal proceedings have intensified, with hearings, document submissions, and the like.
One of the most dramatic moments just occurred in the Georgia election fraud case, where Trump's former Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, has now joined the ranks of those pointing fingers at the former president. Meadows, who is also charged in the case, explained that everything he did was on Trump's orders.
When asked why, Meadows responded,
"Because I knew otherwise I would get yelled at by the President of the United States."
In the New York-based case involving hush money to porn actress Stormy Daniels, it is Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, who has gone from co-defendant to star witness. Cohen stated.
"The case's development has shown the 18 co-defendants that Donald [Trump] doesn't care about anyone other than himself. Everyone has to fend for themselves." This sentiment can more or less be applied to all the cases. In the case involving confidential documents, a couple of IT employees have turned around and told how Trump gave direct orders to, for example, delete recordings from video surveillance.
As Politico writes,
"It's not uncommon for co-defendants facing serious prison sentences to start pointing fingers at each other to appear less guilty to a jury. But rarely has it played out so spectacularly, because the alleged mastermind is a former president."
