My Take

It seems quite unlikely that the Director of the FBI or the Attorney General will deem an illegal Trump directive a bridge too far. It is frankly asking too much of individual agents or prosecutors to do so on their own.

Lawyers are already on the front line – challenging extra and outright illegal conduct in courts. Many lower court judges are acting appropriately. It remains to be seen whether the appellate process will act with alacrity – something they fatally failed to do during the era of Trump indictments.

And, of course, there is the Supreme Court – hanging by a thread on the spines of Roberts and Barrett.

And then the ultimate question – what happens if Trump refuses to comply with court orders?

If that happens then we are left with the impeachment power of Congress. Which requires a two thirds majority in the Senate to convict. Which requires the vote of many, many Republicans. There appear to be zero Republican Senators with the spines of Roberts or Barrett.

Because Trump has a gift of dancing around clarity and specificity (see his Jan 6 speech) – he will leave enough ambiguity to give cover to the spineless Republican Senators . They (we) lawyers require but a slender thread to formulate an argument.

Convicting and removing Trump is a pipe dream.

Tick tock.