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Some of President Trump's pardons seem good. For instance, Micheal Tedesco, convicted of drug trafficking in 1990. President Obama actually pardoned him in 2017, but due to a clerical error, his conviction for fraud was not included. President Trump fixed that.
However, while some of Mr. Trump's pardons are consistent with the original purpose of a President Pardon, some of his latest pardons seem to be as 'payoff' for the persons' not cooperating with Federal investigators (Stone, Manafort, even Charles Kushner, given he is his son-in-law's father).
Indeed, if he continues (as I expect) to 'pardon' his close associates, then a case may be made that he is abusing his pardon power. While we do not have 'settled law', I imagine that the Court will take a dim view of a President awarding those that refused to testify or provide evidence against him.
Let me be clear: I watched the Nixon investigation closely (I was a Nixon supporter until the smoking gun tapes). President Nixon had instructed some of the people involved to 'stonewall' the investigators regarding Mr. Nixon's role in the cover-up.
IF (note "if") President Nixon had promised said people that if convicted of obstruction of justice or other Federal crime, then he would issue a Presidential Pardon, and he then followed through, I think the US Supreme Court would have declared such pardons invalid, since it would have been a conspiracy involving the President and those pardoned.
Of course, as I have said before, Mr. Nixon was a very capable attorney. He would have recognized that he could not pardon his co-conspirators without the pardons subsequently being declared null and void. Mr. Nixon also, I believe, but can't prove, that he could not pardon himself, based on the language of the Constitution (the word 'grant', back when it was written, meant to bestow upon another; not upon oneself).
With President Trump, we are not dealing with a capable lawyer, or even a person willing to listen to legal advise. Mr. Trump is keen on 'loyalty' to him: keep your mouth shut, and I will pardon you.
So, it might give Mr. Trump's MAGA supporters some glee (why, I don't know) for Mr. Trump to pardon people like Mr. Stone and Mr. Manafort, but, in the end, it may well be the worse possible move for Mr. Trump to make.
For those Trump supporters that read this far (unlikely, but who knows?), I will give one example:
Suppose some person had irrefutable knowledge about Hunter Biden's laptop, or some other clearly illegal activity by the President's son.
If President Biden offered to said person that 'you keep quiet about Hunter, and, if you are convicted of perjury or obstruction of justice, I will issue a Presidential pardon", would you be okay with that?
That is what it boils down to.
Chuck? Is that you, Chuck? Chuck Rosenberg?
I was unable to rep you, so please understand the above is meant as a compliment. Thank you for another wonderful post.
Last edited by corpgypsy; 12-28-2020 at 07:28 AM..
I knew it was a VERY BIASED "poll" when I did NOT see "none of the above".
If you truly want a FAIR comparison, list ALL the pardons DEM presidents gave alongside Trump's.
I won't hold my breathe.
Do you think your example of Kushner was worse than obama pardoning a deserter, who could and SHOULD have been executed, during a time of war?
Or bill clinton's, "Rich owed $48 million in taxes and was charged with 51 counts for tax fraud, was pardoned of tax evasion. He was required to pay a $1 million fine and waive any use of the pardon as a defense against any future civil charges that were filed against him in the same case.' Bill Clinton pardon controversy - Wikipedia
Why would I need to compare these to any other president? This is not a comparison. It is an evaluation of Trump’s pardons. We can agree that Clinton’s pardon of Rich was awful and still think Trump’s pardons are awful as well.
All these pardons are repulsive, but the Blackwater killers is the worst, Trump loves pardoning those who are convicted of killing brown people. He is a very sick human being.
I guess the Blackwater contractors didn't want to end up like their colleagues from 3 years earlier. Shame on them for not allowing themselves to be killed. "The four armed contractors, Scott Helvenston, Jerry Zovko, Wesley Batalona, and Mike Teague, were killed and dragged from their vehicles. Their bodies were beaten and burned, with their charred corpses then dragged through the city streets before being hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates River.
If we just had a team of City-Data Forum combat troops there, I'm sure they would have managed to defend themselves from a hail of bullets coming at them from a crowd of people without killing any innocent civilians. Maybe the City-Data Forum shock troops could have just dodged the bullets, Matrix-style, and then did flips and cartwheels through the crowd to take out the insurgents. I'm guessing we have a lot of elite combat veterans here.
The most egregious miscarriage of justice was when Trump didn't put Hillary Clinton in jail. He did a lot of other good things and stood as a bulwark against the global socialist movement, so I'm giving him a pass on that one.
Blackwater certainly seems to take the prize. So why did they bypass the normal process and jump on this one. This is going to be a real problem going forward when we criticize the legal system in other countries like Saudi Arabia, are we any better.
Quote:
I was the F.B.I. case agent who led the investigation of the Blackwater massacre in Baghdad. We originally went to Iraq thinking this shooting was some form of innocent civilians caught in the crossfire between Blackwater guards and insurgents. After only one week, we determined that this incident was not as presented by Blackwater personnel and their State Department lackeys, but it was a massacre along the lines of My Lai in Vietnam. Three of the guards were convicted of manslaughter and one of murder.
I only recently became aware of the concerted effort for the pardons, which I understand started with a political push by members of Congress. President Trump should have had staff members review the trial evidence that led to the convictions and read the judges’ opinions and sentencing statements. God forbid they might have actually picked up the phone and called the investigators who built the case. I’m so disgusted with the president’s actions!
I don't care if these guys were good or bad, anything Trump does that pisses Democrats off is alright with me, keep it up Trump.
Your weak attitude is a reflection of your weak character.
Why don't you read what you wrote a few times and think about how stupid you sound.
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