Discussion: 5 Points On The Threat Of Trump Issuing Pardons In The Russia Probe

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Um, shouldn’t that be “initially commissioned by a Jeb Bush campaign donor, then funded by the Clinton campaign” ? Eliding the origins of the dossier in an R campaign seems inaccurate, no?

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Nice recap!

In the case of Trump, the only legacy that matters is what he thinks of himself. Trump is a sick person.

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Unfortunately , Trump will do what HE wants .

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What’s a kPardon?

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Not to be TOO picky, but this is the second TPM article I read in succession-- Josh’s Nunes Scam post-- to misspell “linchpin.” And seconding chetmurthy’s comment about the origins of the dossier, unless I missed something.

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kPardon = kilo-Pardon. Because a thousand is about the number of people Trump will have to pardon for collusion and obstruction of justice.

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Here’s another piece of history cirriculum.

Students of the future will read this.

Keep after em’!

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A kPardon is about one covfefe’s worth of pardons.

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heard of k-rations but never k-pardons… it’ll get fixed, and it is hard to beat the old “war plans” typo for available mirth.

Trump should take a LONG cofveve break…

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Seems as if there’s a subconscious urge to get the word “lynch” into the story, but shouldn’t is be capitalized?

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The White House offered no official response to the social media exhortation,

That is incorrect. The White House’s official statement was that looking into a pardon for Flynn wasn’t necessary until they get “further down the road,” which translates roughly as, “We’ll have to wait to see if Flynn was disloyal to the president by offering evidence of his direct involvement.” Although SHS may not word it exactly that way.

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I fully anticipate Trump will pardon Flynn and most everyone else involved. The republicans will then rush to cover for this blatantly obstructionist move and claim there was no real collusion so no real crime. The media will cover their outrageous claims in a box right next to someone properly stating that, while constitutional, is a complete overreach and absolute abuse of power. Once again Trump will shred the walls between POTUS and the FBI and Justice Dept, turning them more and more into agencies that do his bidding all while the republicans happily lick his boots and the media covers it like it’s a controversy with two equally compelling arguments.

Trump wants to be a dictator. He was elected president but he clearly cannot work within constitutional constraints. He appears to act like he has absolute authority and immunity from actions and it’s clear the republicans are totally on board with letting him do that.

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Probably, but if I understand correctly, that may effectively reduce or cancel any penalties, but it won’t magically wipe away the evidence or even necessarily prevent the investigation from moving forward. The pardon still implies guilt, regardless of what the Hannities of the world would say. As far as what Ryan and his gang of merry assholes might do, it became clear a long time ago that they don’t need any pretense of justification for what they want to do. That will continue to work for the dead enders, but it becomes harder to ignore by anyone who bothers to rub two synapses together.

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Permanent, even.

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Flynn’s already doubtlessly given sworn statements that can be used if he’s pardoned or not. I’m not sure what Trump would get out of pardoning him at this point. It’s not like Flynn’s got any loyalty left for him. (Also, sounds like he’d also have to pardon Flynn’s son… this could get complicated.)
Now Jared-- I bet he gets a pre-emptive pardon pretty soon.

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  1. A pardon makes it impossible for a witness to take the Fifth unless the testimony concerns matters outside the scope of the pardon, in which case it is pointless. Once a witness is pardoned, he has to either testify truthfully, risk indictment for perjury or go to jail for contempt.
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Yup, which is exactly why DT is waiting to see how much Flynn rolled over on him. Anyone who gave evidence against him should probably not expect a pardon. Of course, most of the people who will need pardons will probably give evidence against him.

My popcorn tub is not large enough.

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The real question is whether issuing pardons, whether to a few individuals like Flynn or Manafort, or to a raft of people who might be able to incriminate him and his family, would unleash the dogs of war–that is, impeachment. Which, as Republicans reminded us endlessly 20 years ago, is a political question.

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