Miles Taylor, a former chief of staff for the Department of Homeland Security in the Trump administration, said on Saturday that many in the Republican Party expect Donald Trump to lose in future legal battles and leave the party.
Speaking on MSNBC, Taylor said he would not be surprised if Trump faced criminal charges in 2021, amid ongoing criminal investigations in New York City and Georgia.
“My forecast for this year is that Donald Trump, who loves to win, win, win, is about to lose, lose, lose,” said the former government official.
“He is losing in the court of public opinion and is about to lose, I would say, in the people’s court if charges are brought against him. Many Republicans are really hoping that this will happen so that they can move on with Donald Trump.”
Taylor’s statements were made while Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance conducted a broad criminal investigation to examine secret payments allegedly made to Trump-related women and whether his company manipulated asset values for loans and tax gains.
On February 25, Vance’s investigation increased after the prosecutor managed to obtain Trump’s tax records. The Supreme Court had already allowed the ex-president’s request to block subpoenas for his tax returns twice.
Along with Vance’s investigation, New York Attorney General Letitia James is also conducting a civil investigation into the Trump Organization, focusing on tax deductions and casualties.
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The former president also faces a criminal investigation in Georgia for trying to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election, putting pressure on officials to find evidence of electoral fraud.
Taylor, a vehement critic of the former president who wrote an explosive New York Times essay in 2018 detailing an internal “resistance” within his administration, added on Saturday that he believes Trump has committed several crimes.
“If you look at Donald Trump and his career long enough, you will not only see him breaking the law, you will see him setting the law on fire,” Taylor said.
“This is a man who has an almost clinical addiction to doing wrong things, whether he is cheating on his golf game or governing … would it be surprising if he tried to cheat on his tax returns?” he added.
Since leaving the White House on January 20, the former president has been residing at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach and has maintained a significant presence within the Republican Party.
During a fiery speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last month, Trump suggested the possibility of a presidential race in 2024 after falsely alleging that President Joe Biden lost the 2020 elections.
“In fact, you know they just lost the White House, I may even decide to beat them a third time,” said Trump at the time.
Newsweek contacted Trump for further comments, but got no response in time for publication.