Where can Trump go to escape the law?

Given the explosive testimony in the January 6 hearings this week, Donald Trump may be dusting off some of the advice he was receiving in 2020 about where he might flee to escape the law. Once it became clear that Attorney General Merrick Garland had no intention of investigating and indicting him, Trump relaxed and, despite the large number of crimes he apparently committed, was with Garland’s grant of impunity left free to roam the country.

Recent developments including the testimony before the January 6 Committee this week, however, suggest that the situation has changed or may be changing.

Consequently, Trump may be reviewing advice received both before and after losing the November 3, 2020 election. Here we reproduce the kind of analysis he might have been receiving then and could be reviewing now.

From The Trenchant Observer, October 17, 2020

Where can Trump go to escape the law?

Where can he go?

The thought of losing the election is rumbling around in Donald Trump’s mind.

If he loses, where indeed can he go to escape the reach of American Law and Justice?

See

Colby Itkowitz, “Cat videos, ‘Hamilton’ and a threat from Trump to leave the country,” Washington Post, October 17, 2020.

Itkowitz qiotes Trump as follows:

“Could you imagine if I lose? My whole life, what am I going to do?” Trump said at a campaign rally in Georgia. “I’m not going to feel so good. Maybe I’ll have to leave the country, I don’t know.”

Trump has good reason to think about leaving the country if he loses the election.

Where can he go? What factors should determine his choice?

First, he needs to pick a country that doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the United States.

That rules out Canada, the U.K., the remaining 27 members of the European Union, and even countries like Turkey and Costa Rica.

Jair Bolsonaro would seem to offer a hospitable environment for Trump in Brazil. Problem: Extradition Treaty.

What about neighboring Bolivia? Problem: Extradition Treaty.

Moreover, Trump must also bear in mind that even a country without an extradition treaty with the U.S. can extradite him to the U.S. in accordance with its own internal law. Problem: Extradition is Possible Without a Treaty

A Trump Tower “Non-extradition Community” in a non-extradition country?

If Trump plans his escape carefully, he might actually make a lot of money by moving with a large group of his collaborators to a non-extradition country, where he could build a new Trump Tower for his friends and collaborators. After his own suite, the star attraction might be the William P. Barr Justice Suite.

Given the amount of money he and his collaborators are likely to bring with them, Trump might be able to negotiate a great deal with, e.g., Vladimir Putin or Kim Jong-Un. If he chooses Russia, he can use his existing plans from 2016, though with Putin on the top floor Barr would be downgraded to the third most opulent suite.

Of course, fiscal considerations will need to be taken into account. He will need protection from his creditors.

Panama might be an ideal jurisdiction for secretly transferring and hiding money. Problem: Extradition Treaty.

Where to go to escape the law is not a novel question.

See,

Offshore Citizen, “Non-extradition Countries- The Best Place To Run To,” The list of countries and advantages of each are listed here.

Trump can reach out for help from Offshore Citizen by sending in a form or calling them here.

The question of where can Trump go is a hot news story, more important even than Joe Biden’s hypothetical decision on whether to pack the Supreme Court.

CNN, MSNBC, and even FOX should be all over this story until Trump chooses a country to escape to.

Timing will be critical. Trump would be well advised to resign, get his pardon from Mike Pence, and depart the country before January 20, 2021.

He wouldn’t want to get arrested on the way to the airport.

The Trenchant Observer