The investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller continues to expand and move closer to senior members of the administration, with Mueller now indicating that he plans to talk to numerous current and former top White House aides. Two of those are former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Would either of them be willing to flip on President Trump and tell what they know?

Politico asked that very question of top officials in Washington, and most said there was no way Priebus or Spicer would ever roll over on their former boss. But a woman who has known Trump and worked closely with him for decades, disagrees.

Barbara Rees was a construction executive with the Trump Organization, and she said neither Priebus or Spicer have any reason to remain loyal to the president:

“Why should they be loyal to him? He treated them like crap.”

Those comments were met with strong agreement from former Whitehouse Special Counsel Robert Ray, who noted:

“The lesson to be always learned is loyalty is one thing, but are you prepared to go to jail for it? The answer to that question should be no.”

Ray also said that loyalty is rarely a reciprocal matter in Washington:

“Loyalty is not a two-way street. A lot of young people go to the White House and they’re going to be loyal to the president and the president is going to be loyal to me. Bullshit. If it’s expedient, you’re going to be thrown under the bus. The loyalty isn’t necessarily going to be returned. Even if it were, I’m not sure the promise or prospect of a pardon is all that comforting.”

And an attorney who is currently representing someone caught up in the Russia probe also said that he informs his clients loyalty can be a very hazardous thing if taken too far:

“What I always tell clients is you can’t protect anybody. You can only hurt yourself. Efforts to concoct a story to protect somebody are almost inevitably doomed to failure. All you do is create liability to yourself that didn’t exist before.”

Should Priebus and Spicer be subpoenaed to testify before one of the grand juries Mueller has impaneled and then lie, they would be guilty of perjury, which could earn them up to five years in prison on each count. That alone could be a powerful motivator for the two former aides.

This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org