President Donald Trump is running out of options to avoid possible impeachment or prevent his family from prosecution, legal experts say.

The felony convictions of two former top aides Tuesday demonstrated that Trump’s nonstop attacks have failed to impede Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia collusion and obstruction investigation against him.

And while no one knows how strong a case Mueller has built against the president and his inner circle, Trump’s own behavior suggests he feels intense pressure.

Experts say he has three basic strategic options, none of them good.

– Cooperate with Mueller –

Though he repeatedly says there was no crime committed, Trump has tried disrupt and delay the investigation, and has avoided for months being interviewed by Mueller.

That’s a bad strategy, if Trump truly has nothing to hide, says Eric Freedman, a constitutional law professor at Hofstra University.

“He should absolutely adopt and embrace a policy of openness,” Freedman says, a move which could buttress the White House campaign to tarnish Mueller’s probe as a political “witch hunt.”

Doing so would require abandoning his support for former aides like Paul Manafort, Trump’s ex-campaign chairman convicted Tuesday on tax and bank fraud charges.

Trump could, however, justify that he is “draining the swamp” of Washington corruption, argues Freedman, “wrapping himself in the mantle of good governance.”

Robert Bennett, a veteran Washington criminal defense lawyer who worked for president Bill Clinton in the 1990s, says it is too late for that.

“They decided a long time ago to attack the special counsel. It would be hard now to do an about-face,” he told AFP. “Who is he going to turn on? He’s at the top of the food chain.”

Moreover, cooperating now would almost certainly not change the direction of Mueller’s probe, except possibly for the worse, said Bennett, currently senior counsel at Schertler & Onorato, a Washington law firm.

An interview with Mueller would be fraught with dangers for Trump, who notoriously cannot stay on script. “He couldn’t truthfully cooperate without further incriminating himself, is my guess,” Bennett said.

Cooperating could also force the president into a difficult position if, as many think, his son Donald Trump Jr. or other family members fall into Mueller’s sights. (NAN)

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