Former Trump Organization Exec Thinks Trump Will Resign Before Impeachment

A former Trump Organization executive said she thinks President Donald Trump would resign before the impeachment inquiry brought on by a whistleblower complaint is complete.

Such a move would mirror that of President Richard Nixon, who resigned from office before his own impeachment following the Watergate scandal.

Barbara Res, a former Trump Organization vice president, told CNN's Brian Stelter on Sunday that Trump might resign, given his previous track record of doing "things to save face."

"There are some things that, you know, he can't control, and he's now at the point where he can't control this," Res told CNN. "He can't do anything about this."

Res said she thinks that for Trump, impeachment would be a worse fate than resigning from office, as it could erode his political reputation.

"It would be very, very, very bad for him to be impeached," Res said. "I don't know that he'd be found guilty, but I don't think he wants to be impeached."

Read more: Congress is using the Watergate playbook to take on Trump and drum up support for his impeachment

Since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched an official impeachment inquiry into the president at the end of September, House committees have subpoenaed several Trump officials, and an additional whistleblower has spoken up about the Ukraine scandal.

Trump has denied that he withheld military aid to Ukraine to spur the country to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Speaking to reporters at the White House last week, Trump encouraged China to investigate the Bidens as well.

Res told CNN she saw Trump's latest political moves as made in a panic.

"My gut tells me he'll leave office, he'll resign," she said. "Or make some kind of a deal even, depending on what comes out."

On Monday, Trump defended his decision to pull US forces out of Syria in a rambling Twitter thread. That was met with backlash from other Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has often stood by the president in the past.

This isn't the first time the subject of a presidential resignation has been broached. A 2017 article by Quartz, published less than a month after Trump took office, said that the online betting site Ladbrokes put the odds that Trump would either be impeached or resign in his first term at 48%.

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