President Donald Trump is considering preemptive pardons for as many as 20 aides and associates before leaving office, Politico reported late Thursday.
Nothing screams integrity like a preemptive pardon.
And the rubes will still believe it’s all the meanie Libs fault! Because issuing pardons to your aides and friends is what every president does.
Pollyanna-ing very strongly!
Only 20?!
And GOP representatives and senators will just look the other way. Conservative media will argue that it was done to protect these fine people from unjust prosecution by vindictive Dems. The MSM will make it a 1-3 day story and then it will disappear. That is life in the age of Trump…
fears the pre-emptive clemency for the hefty list of family members and allies could yield unintended consequences, … making those close to [Trump] look like criminals.
Ya think?
Oh c’mon…Trump is worried it will make his close associates/family LOOK like criminals??? OF COURSE, it will and that is exactly why he is doing it. This is a new low in the Presidency. Come to power, screw the country, laugh at the laws and then get a blanket pardon for the time in power. Plus, I am convinced that Donnie wants to pardon Rudy as a pay off. We know how much Trump doesn’t pay the ‘help’…
Grassley knows exactly why they would need to be pardoned.
I think Biden should, on January 20, pardon Hunter Biden and about 20 other of his cabinet for anything they ever might have done or will do. Make them take it to the Supreme Court and see if Wife Barrett and the Boofer think it’s ok.
ETA: And he should announce that he’s going to do it today.
Trump fears the pre-emptive clemency for the hefty list of family members and allies could yield unintended consequences, including, according to one source, making those close to the President look like criminals.
Well, they don’t need the pardons to make them look like criminals, they are associated with/related to BLOTUS, so they look like criminals by default.
Of course, a judicious person like Trump is also weighing the at least equal risk of their looking like criminals if they’re charged with and convicted of crimes.
Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told Politico that he knew why Trump had pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
“But I don’t know what the others have done wrong that they’d need to be pardoned,” he said.
Likely traitor Mike Flynn quite plausibly lied to protect co-conspirator Donnie.
And Chuck Grassley is OK enough with that that he voted to exonerate Donnie of well predicated charges of abuse of his office in attempting to extort campaign assistance from Ukraine.
The sense of it boggles my mind, unless they’re all in it together.
Acknowledgement to @ralphwins, who was ahead of me on the point.
A presidential pardo is a federal thing … but Trump and his minions will argue (baselessly) that it is universal indemnity & validates parking & forgives back taxes & sexual assault & provides future protection… virtually a license to steal… like a fantasy super power …
I was arguing a similar hypothetical with an attorney friend the other day. I don’t know to what extent the pardon power has been tested in court, but if this plays out I think it’s time to challenge. It’s obvious he’s going to do this, I actually believe he will pardon himself, 'cause why the hell not?? Give it a go! This cannot be the “intent of the framers,” though I haven’t dusted off my copy of the Federalist Papers to see exactly what they wrote.
And yeah, I like your approach, instead of pardoning on the last day, pardon on the first day, with a statement something like, “I’m pardoning these people - my entire cabinet, all my attorneys, my family and close friends - just in case they might do something illegal in the next 4-8 years.”
I hope he does it, I hope it gets challenged, I hope to hear the ridiculous arguments his attorneys attempt to make, and I hope the SC laughs as they strike it down.
Hopefully these get challenged in court by the incoming AG. Even when the SC hands down whatever argle bargle they use to justify IOKIYAR the AG can at least bankrupt the defendants with attorney fees.
Imagine coming in just below the cutoff.
Going to be fun for prosecutors to pick apart the pardons and what they don’t cover. With the range of crimes committed by this crew, almost impossible to write a pardon that is all-encompassing.
[quote=“discobot, post:1, topic:200859”]
“But I don’t know what the others have done wrong that they’d need to be pardoned,” he said.
[/quote]
Pollyanna-ing very strongly!
Chuck wears seriously rose colored glasses for members of his own party.
They’re so deeply tinted, I’m surprised he can see at all.