On Friday’s “MSNBC Live,” MSNBC host Chris Matthews reacted to ormer Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn being charged and reportedly planning to plead guilty with lying to the FBI by stating Special Counsel Robert Mueller intends to prosecute, special counsels target whatever target they are assigned to, and in this case, Mueller’s target is the president. He also argued that Trump’s supporters will “circle the wagons” by attacking Mueller and saying he’s out to get the president.

Matthews said that the charges seem to be a case of Flynn being let off lightly in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors. He added, “Mueller’s got one goal, and that is to prosecute the collusion — if it occurred — between the Trump administration and the campaign and the Russians. That’s his goal. Or, corollary to that, any kind of obstruction to prevent the prosecution of that case, the investigation of that case. And so we know the direction he’s going. Mueller didn’t take this incredible challenge without a clear direction in mind. And his clear direction is prosecution. By the way, I’ve never met a special counsel that did not intend to prosecute. That’s what they do. They’re assigned to a particular target and they target it. In this case, I believe it’s the president.”

Later on, in response to a question on how “the true Trumpers, the Steve Bannon universe” will react to the Flynn case, Matthews stated they will “go after the special prosecutor and suggest that this is over-prosecution, that he is out to get the president, and that they’re using superior efforts to get him, that they’re just targeting him, and I think they’ll basically circle the wagons. But, you know, the nationalist cause basically doesn’t allow for interference in terms of facts or issues or behavior.”

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