"Paul Pogue, the former owner of a Texas construction company, was pardoned for tax charges after his family contributed more than $200,000 in the last six months to help re-elect Mr. Trump."
"The President...shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
What more need we say?
12
Trump is draining the swamp and filling his cesspool.
6
Everything is for sale at Trump Inc.
5
Perhaps a coincidence that Kerik, Milken, DeBartolo, Blagojevich and Trump all have ties to organized crime...? NYT, WSJ, and WaPost all did investigative pieces on them.
8
Sometimes the sanest reaction to an insane situation....is Insanity. We, the People,
are under the active Control of a self-appointed “Leader” who is, also, a full-fledged
Sociopathic Personality Disorder, who has lived out, n full Public
6
As Trump gathers more and more powers to himself, the promiscuous use of his power to pardon, is just the latest. Clearly he sees his powers as president akin to those of a divine right king. What's next?
Will Trump try out the royal touch, by which medieval monarchs merely by touching a subject were reputedly able to cure them of various diseases?
1
The Rich White Males Club has all the best people and connections in it, don't you think?
5
When I was growing up, we were taught to revere the president as if he were divine. We had to memorize the first 15 presidents as if they were Jesus' disciples. That reverence received its first big blow with Nixon, but was still somewhat intact. But now, with the drek that sits in the White House, it's become abundantly clear that the President is nothing more than someone who contrived a way to persuade more morons to vote for him than for his opponent did (or, with our inane perversion of democracy, not), and by extension, that democracy is doomed to failure with a stupid electorate.
9
And what are Martha Stewart’s connections with Trump? I had hoped she would tell him to take it back. But then maybe I don’t know Martha.
3
If Trump were intelligent, well informed, and educated, the country would be in serious danger. Luckily he's his own worst enemy. It's very unlikely that the next power hungry president will be as much of a fool. The founding fathers would be shocked to see that the Constitution has not been amended, improved, and updated much more and has instead been turned into a pseudoreligious document.
What has to happen before a grassroots movement demands a major reform of the president's right to pardon?! At the very least, the Constitution needs to be amended so that presidents cannot pardon the kind of people that judges are also disqualified from judging such as friends, relatives, supporters, etc. In addition, in most modern democracies, the head of state can only pardon people that the justice department or a separate commission recommends.
The current US president's right to pardon is completely outdated, antidemocratic, and downright monarchical. It's shocking that most Americans are unaware of how outdated, broken, and embarrasing the US political, electoral, judicial, and legislative systems are in the eyes of almost all people in modern democracies.
6
And so will the next eleven. Have connections.
What has to happen before a grassroots movement demands a major reform of the president's right to pardon?! At the very least, the Constitution needs to be amended so that presidents cannot pardon the kind of people that judges are disqualified from judging such as friends, relatives, supporters etc.
In addition, in most modern democracies, the head of state can only pardon people that the justice department or a separate commission recommends.
The current US president's right to pardon is completely outdated, antidemocratic, and downright monarchical. It's shocking that most Americans are unaware of how outdated, broken, and embarrasing the US political, electoral, judicial, and legislative systems are in the eyes of almost all people in modern democracies.
6
Consulting with Chris Christie and pardoning his convicted defender David Safavian -- now we can watch Christie push even harder to defend Trump every Sunday on ABC's This Week. Pundits like to discuss election strategy. Well, here's one: these pardons will hatch a fresh brood of enthusiastic supporters who have the means to make a difference!
4
"The process bypassed the formal procedures used by past presidents and was driven instead by friendship, fame, personal empathy...?
Really? While Trump may have ignored normal procedures and guidelines for granting clemency to this rogues' gallery of the undeserving, "personal empathy" had no place! As it shown over and over again, by his words and actions, Trump is utterly INCAPABLE of "personal empathy" for anyone!
Backroom "personal considerations," rewarding connected cronies, and flaunting justice are NOT the same as empathy!
6
I'm dismayed at the headline, it should read instead:
"The 11 Criminals Granted Clemency by Trump Had One Thing in Common: Corruption."
11
Trump keeps announcing that he is the most corrupt president ever and still GOP and their voters think eh is the best..
just because he is giving it to LIBERALS.
What they don't get it is that: Trump is giving it to them as well, they just don't see it yet.
8
These types of actions cross party lines.
1
Kerik will always be a convicted felon, and a disgrace to law enforcement. The pardon doesn't change that.
5
More and more and more...these pardons are all about Trump. Unless I have missed something, Trump displays no concern for anyone but himself. More of his self-interest, more of his assertion that he is really a tyrant, more of his standing by his friends (until he doesn't). Trump is the titular head of a vast, multinational criminal conspiracy...I agree that he is desensitizing Americans to his criminal behavior through the many pardons of white, white collar criminals. By the time he and his handlers land the fatal blow...will we just acquiesce?
5
Despicable, It is fine to lie, cheat, steal, and bribe if you are white and connected. If Jeffery Epstein lived he'd be on the list too. Like Trump falsely accused by greedy women. Republican's should be asking Trump, "Have you no sense of decency?" We count on the voters to ask the same of the elected Republicans that shield Trump from accountability for his crimes.
4
Well here we go again the Trumpster is pardoning crooks, tax fraud, corruption, you name it the Trumpster is a fraud himself.
You have to ask yourself what the heck happened to our government over reach into the judicial system by this tyrannical Trumpster
When can we have enough back bone to say enough is enough I sure hope we can get someone that obeys they laws as a president this guy is so devious And we all stand by like puppets while he gets away with dismantling all our check points in keeping our government clean from corruption
6
If Dr. Martin Luther King knew what his family is doing politically, he would be turning over in his grave.
3
Obama holds the record for the largest single-day use of the clemency power, granting 330 commutations on January 19, 2017, his last full day in office. He also issued more commutations than the past 13 presidents combined.
1
Joe, they all deserved their pardons and commutations, and none committed crimes that threatened the Constitution or the rule of law. Obama didn't pardon corrupt powerful people and friends. In fact, he didn't choose them. He did what is the only legal thing in modern democracies, he pardoned people suggested to him by the justice department.
10
Criminals to us, just partners in crime for Trump, so used to cheat throughout his entire life. Why do you think he is fighting 'tooth and nail' to avoid releasing his tax returns, as it would just confirm he is a consummate crook?
5
In other words, we don't have a president.
We have a king.
4
Just another day draining the swamp.
1
Democrats should be highlighting the fact that Trump's "friends" include crooks, liars, thieves, traitors and murderers and that he's unleashing these people upon society.
4
Headline: "Game show host pardons former contestant"+10 other criminals...
1
'The 11 Criminals Granted Clemency by Trump Had One Thing in Common: Connections"
What a headline!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1
So this is what swamp draining looks like, huh?
2
I get called for jury duty in New York County (Manhattan) ever 5 years. In the past 45 years, I've been called 9 times for a legal system I can't even afford to use.
Next time I'm called, which should be in another 2 years, I'm going to cite the President of the United States of America when I bring up to the court and the lawyers present the option of "jury nullification", in effect the circumvention of existing laws by a duly formed jury, a concept that has precedent in US law.
If criminals can circumvent the law through connections and money at the top of the legal, social, and economic structures of this country, I should be able to do the same thing with jury nullification...at the bottom of those structures.
Again, I'm taking my cue from government officials duly elected by the laws of the United States of America, by those of the State of New York, by those of a legal system that uses me ever 5 years for lawyer fodder, and by legal precedent.
2
With a couple of seeming exceptions, it's--
Swamp Trump pardons the swamp.
2
Mike "King of Junk Bonds" Milken's net worth was estimated at $3.7 billion as of September 2019.
According to Wikipedia: "Milken was indicted for racketeering and securities fraud in 1989 in an insider trading investigation. As the result of a plea bargain, he pleaded guilty to securities and reporting violations but not to racketeering or insider trading. Milken was sentenced to ten years in prison, fined $600 million, and permanently barred from the securities industry by the Securities and Exchange Commission. His sentence was later reduced to two years for cooperating with testimony against his former colleagues and for good behavior."
So he's got all the money and spent very little time in jail and now he's been pardoned. We call this justice?
5
King Solomon of D.C. sits upon his throne dispensing justice with the wave of his hand. Entrance into his court requires only a proper connection and a little grease applied to the skids. The greases that makes his skids slide are of course anything that plays well in his media scheme. They also must meet the President's unspecified conditions and terms. Even if your case falls into a similar category as the recently forgiven you don't stand a chance unless you have the ear of someone who has the ear of a person close enough to have the President's ear. Contributions aren't necessary but it doesn't hurt. Hopefully, two mothers won't appear before him claiming the same child least he threaten to raise his mighty sword. Mr. President, now that you have established yourself as the fast track source of pardons, set that Sharpie free on the deserving unconnected.
1
Trump encaged innocent children and separated families for fleeing violence. But he pardoned and freed several individuals guilty of much more serious crimes.
Trump is rotten inside and out.
7
Meanwhile, Roger Stone was sentenced in DC; Judge Jackson described his crime as "covering up for the President."
Let's see; Stone must have some connections that would be useful. I wonder how long it will take trump to pardon him.
4
Does the name Marc Rich strike a familiar note? You know, that big time Democratic donor who was pardoned by President Bill Clinton? Denise Rich (Marc's wife} had given more than $1 million to the Democratic Party, including more than $100,000 to the Senate campaign of the president's wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and $450,000 to the Clinton Library foundation during Clinton's time in office. Even Jimmy Carter had to hold his nose on that one.
"I don't think there is any doubt that some of the factors in his pardon were attributable to his large gifts. In my opinion, that was disgraceful." - J. Carter
Perhaps we should also mention Clinton's pardons and clemency to 455 other folks, with 140 pardons coming in the final hours of his Presidency. Now we have the much needed sense of perspective that was so lacking.
@Mike
That was 20 years ago. Live in the present, as painful as that is for the majority of us who voted against Trump.
2
Not one of the pardons /commutations Trump gave out this week is remotely as bad as President Obama's Pardon of Oscar Lopez Rivera, in 2017. But, Lin Manuel Miranda pushed for it, a celebrity darling. Everything being said here about Trump equally applies to President Obama in January, 2017. There is no way to spin your way out of that fact.
3
At last America has a real patriot as President making real decisions for the benefit of his fellow Americans. He is going to be re-elected in a landslide by American citizens both Republican and Democrats who feel someone is finally listening to them and actually doing something about their concerns.
2
it's highly likely that trump is pardoning people he does not know to make it easier to pardon those he does--and who he does not want testifying against him at some point.
of course, trump has to be careful doing this: if he pardons someone with relevant information, that person can no longer claim a fifth amendment privilege and refuse to testify.
the key will be to look at what trump does if he loses the election between the election and when he leaves office: to pardon or not to pardon his friends and associates.
3
Corruption is the name of the game. People need to stop wanting more government power over them and start to realize that you can't go decade after decade after decade of imperialism, deficit spending, corporate and special interests over the common good, disregard for equal protection under the law with special laws that harm one group or benefit some other group, and think more of it will solve anything.
Corruption goes with power, and that's focused on who gets money forced from taxpayers to benefit the few.
5
This is truly an arrogant abuse of presidential pardon power--exercised not for the purpose of allowing the worthy to expiate their transgressions, but to reward friends, and settle petty grievances. But it is really unfortunate that the comments of the Clinton pardon attorney were taken at face value, and without comment. Clinton pardoned the fugitive financier Marc Rich, who had fled the country rather than serve time, in return for a substantial contribution to the Clinton Foundation.
2
So what happens when Trump changes his mind about pardoning one of his cronies? Can he un-pardon them if he throws a tantrum when they fail to show sufficient enthusiasm in their support of him?
4
And not a murderous Puerto Rican terrorist in the bunch!
Dems and ‘progressives’ can barely contain their disappointment...
2
New Trump 2020 campaign theme: Pardon the Swamp!!!
6
This is his tribe. These are his “peeps.” Grifters.
11
WHAAAAA??? Stone hasn't been PARDONED yet? It's been 20 minutes since the sentencing?!?!
This isn't "politics"... IT'S TYRANNY.
6
This is this president’s version of “Drain the Swamp” !!?
Or, is it “Show me the money?”
6
Is this Trump's idea of ..."draining the swamp"?
4
Trump tweets new pledge of allegiance to be taken by all citizens immediately: I pledge allegiance to corruption and the malignancy called trump. One nation under tyranny with liberty and justice for all enablers and abettors Barr none
10
Good work POTUS.
We now know the going rate for a pardon
5
This is just fascism now. Which isn't even a leftist thing to say, this is just pretty standard corrupt fascism
7
I agree that these pardons are abusive and corrupt in intent. But it isn’t news. Now, Trump taking corruption seriously WOULD be news.
6
It doesn’t sound to me (unsurprisingly) that Trump or any of his supporters cited in this article, have any sense of what justice is other than that it involves some personal benefit.
Of course no one wants to go to prison, yet inherent in that dislike is the key factor that makes going to prison punishment. There certainly are issues with an American system of justice that incarcerates at a higher rate than do other first world countries. That doesn’t mean, however, that Trump’s brain, focused as it is on self interest, has any coherent view of what justice should be.
Clearly, a civil society should have a justice system that is designed to define behaviors that harm others and disrupt the useful, peaceful order of our shared community. That is the role of government. Clearly, a reasonable system balances protecting civil order with justice and compassion. However, compassion is not the main goal. Punishment is intended to both deter uncivil behavior and provide a consequence for that behavior. Human nature has throughout its history repeatedly shown that absent consequences, some individuals will take unfair advantage.
This is theme of The Lord of the Flies, which graphically showed how lack of limits leads to a catastrophic degeneration of civility and decency. Humans need limits, and those limits are what keep us safe. The Narcissist-in-Chief has little or no regard for anything other than his own benefit.
7
Selling indulgences. We need a reformation.
10
What I don't get is you say your founding fathers were so determined to write the Constitution so no President can become like a king....... and then they're given the right to pardon people???
You get to upturn justice on a whim? I'm sorry America, but even real kings and queens don't have that power today. To me, it's just another example that your Constitution has so many flaws in it and honestly I'd rather the Westminster system of parliament we have here.
7
The National news media should be broadcasting it loud and clear about the campaign contributions from the pardoned family. It REEKS of the swamp.
7
I am thinking about the five young men who were under trump's radar for supposedly raping and murdering a young women. He wanted them sentenced to death. The "funny" thinks about this is that these young men were not white, nor did they commit the rape and murder. How dare trump make these decisions that he is not equipped to make.
4
In US history this presidency will be remembered as
"I am the corruption"
3
The other thing these criminals all have in common is that the crimes they committed are the same kind of crimes Trump and his friends commit all the time.
3
I love the quote from Margaret Love (former Pardon Attorney from the Clinton administration). I have to wonder if she worked on the one the most egregious pardons in recent memory - Mark Rich. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...
Ad hoc scramble that bypassed formal procedures? That can't be, cant it?:/
Just to be clear, these people are all criminals who were convicted for their crimes. They are not heroes and should not be celebrated for having their sentences commuted by a corrupt administration.
5
While we're at it, why not examine all the pardons that Clinton and Obama made as they were leaving office? These aren't the first pardons that don't pass the smell test and at least these weren't done as the president was walking out the door and didn't stand to face the criticism and backlash that a sitting president would face. Wish there were more balanced reporting by the NYT.
1
In cities like Hong Kong, Baghdad or Paris, tens of thousands of angry protesters would have swarmed their streets by now if faced with behavior similar to that of our president. But not America. We fester behind our screens and think we're effecting change via social media.
Meanwhile our democracy slips away. We essentially do nothing. We deserve what we get.
4
It app[ears that Trump likes the people who play with law. Either voluntary or involuntary like him. But in the 2020 Election if he is not re-elected, he needs a pardon from 46th. All the tweets will stop, if not re-elected on the night of Nov 3, 2020.
As an outsider, I'm curious about whether Donald Trump's devoted fanbase will ever see how corrupt all of this cronyism is? This kind of behaviour gets reported on the news here, but normally it's about third word countries where corruption is the modus operandi in government. Acts like these pardons don't seem to be done with the 'little guy' in mind. I wonder if, in ten-twenty years time, those quiet, working-class voters whom Trump won over will say, "Aaaah, THAT'S what was happening! NOW I get it."
3
To say the system is broken and then praise Trump for his actions shows the hipocracy. Maybe if Trump and the Republicans actually crafted legislation that could make serious structural change but then that does not get you the press and loyalty. Trump is a Major Part of the Problem! Trump only wants to grant wishes to those who praise and gravel at his feet. Trump is Destroying the very foundation of our Constitutional Republic!
Trump Must be removed from office!
God save the Republic!
2
"...it reinforced Mr. Trump’s antipathy toward the law enforcement establishment."
And yet, police unions nationwide are STILL going to vote for someone who deliberately pokes them in the eye.
Kerik pleaded GUILTY. Why should he be pardoned?
3
It is sad yet amazing that many of Trump supporters actually believe Trump is cleaning up the swamp. This set of pardons represents Exhibit 15,000 since he was inaugurated of the swampiest behavior in presidential history. These pardons are disgusting and do not demonstrate any sensitivity to Trump that some people have received unfairly lengthy sentences but rather show he likes to show his friends and certain people popular in Republican circles that the law does not apply to them as it does for run-of-the-mill defendants lacking special friends of connections. Our justice system is being distorted and destroyed that is truly frightening. Anyone condoning this behavior does not believe in what had made this country truly special.
66
@jonathan
The slow-motion car crash is over.
We’re just left to impotently sift through the post-mortem of our judicial institutions.
2
@jonathan Trump could issue a monthly subscription service for his supporters, charge them $100 per month, for nothing, and they'd do it with a smile. He's their friend!
3
If we allow the Trump style of government to go unchecked, if we allow him to rewrite the law and the separation of powers laid out in the Constitution, then we will come to a point where he will be unstoppable. No other president has eaten away at the principles of our democracy and defied the law as he has done, almost from the day he was inaugurated. We are at a crossroads now, and we must choose whether we want to remain a democracy or become an oligarchy.
9
Kerik, who was pardoned (unlike Blagojevich whose sentence was commuted) pleaded guilty to, among other things, tax fraud. I take a pardon to mean that, after long review, we conclude that he didn't do it and he was railroaded by overzealous prosecutors etc. Does this mean that he gets his fines back? Full restitution of his NYPD pension? Maybe compensation for his years of suffering in jail?
That won't, of course, go down well in NY. That may be at least part of the point. Trump is not counting on NY in November. Nor is he expecting the EC votes from Illinois.
7
Pore, pore pitiful Trump. He finally releases some "nonviolent criminals" and you people jump all over him.
Trump who kept insisting he cares so much about government corruption and it's just a coincidence he was persecuting his most experienced, highest polling opponent in the 2020 election—and his surviving son—for a conspiracy theory and the hope mere appearance of impropriety or nepotism rubs a Biden voter the wrong way (when it doesn't a Trump voter), just pardoned Rod Blagojevich who is on tape conspiring to sell a U.S. Senate seat.
Get a list of supporters—by noon that day!—before Trump's dirty trickster Roger Stone's sentencing the next day, but the timing is random?
Trump is making a mockery of every Congressional Republican, all but one of whom voted to acquit him, showing what we knew: he is incapable of "learning a lesson," not even from his historic Impeachment.
Trump knows what he did was wrong, part of the thrill for him is rubbing everybody's nose in the fact that he can not only get away with it but exact revenge on Col. Vindman AND his brother, that he can establish a pattern of pardons to corrupt public officials to foreshadow coming pardons of his crooked cronies.
Lie to authorities about your own corruption? Pardon! Tell the truth about my corruption? "You're fired!"
I believe in mercy and forgiveness. But not from someone lacking in remorse, humility, self-reflection or grace. Like recipients of his Medals of Freedom, there will be an asterisk next to these "honors."
Like sashes of contestants in his beauty pageants, given to anyone who'd show up.
9
I hope that Trump lives a very long life so he may spend a very long time in jail once he is out of office.
5
So the going rate for a pardon is @200K?
2
And some healthy bribes.
2
No, not uncharted waters....Remember Bill Clinton and Marc Rich. His wife was pals with hillary and then poof, magically he gets pardoned for working with Iran no less.
Nothing new here.
2
Chelsea Manning has written and filed to be released for her contempt charges. She is not speaking. She will be released, per our laws?
Did Edward Snowden receive a pardon? How about Obama's whistle blowers?
"Pardon Me", Mr President for asking?
2
Who's next? Bernie Madoff?
4
Kleptocracy: government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed
also : a particular government of this kind
Need I say more?
6
Trump's administration is a true kakistocracy, which is is a system of government that is run by the worst, least qualified, and/or most unscrupulous citizens.
3
Personal empathy? He has none. Everything Trump does is somehow for Trump-cohen just need to look close enough.
1
The King has spoken! Now just watch the Republicans and conservatives fall over each other making excuses for their King's (their god?) abuse of the pardon powers of the office he stole into.
With each new outrage that the immoral, corrupt Trump commits remember this fact: He is NOTHING without the conservatives and Republicans. They made and make him the threat to our republic that he is. THEY are the real problem.
6
In Trumpland, law and order are for the "other" side of town -- meaning, if you're not rich with the right connections, they throw the book at you. If you are rich and have the right connections, they throw the book out.
5
I can only assume that Mr Trump expects these pardoned people to be loyal minions—ala Giuliani—and work for him in the near future. They are pre-corrupted and should serve his aims quite well.
6
They all have TWO things in common: the Second thing they all have in common is that they are all GUILTY of the crimes they were convicted of.
4
NYT really has become ahistorical when it allows an OpEd citing claims by a Clinton official that pardons were supposedly governed by a "pretense of regularity." Clinton's last-minute pardons, including of those who never even asked and others who were rather dodgy (Marc Rich, who was still a fugitive) was a big scandal. That, and Trump's here, of course should not have been scandals, because the pardon power is grounded in the Constitution and stands at the zenith of presidential prerogative and discretion. But you won't hear about that here either, because taking any shot at Trump is, apparently, license ignore the past.
3
What message is Mr. Trump trying to convey – that he has utter contempt for the Justice Department’s established procedures in issuing pardons or that the previous presidents who followed those procedures were all stupid?
None of the 11 criminals he pardoned are from the 14,000 whose clemency petitions are pending before the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney. If that is the case, where is the point in having an office whose only responsibility is to deal with clemency petitions? Won't taxpayers be saving some money if the office is closed? As stated in this report, the way pardons have been issued, “reinforced Mr. Trump’s antipathy toward the law enforcement establishment.”
It is not true that in picking the recipients for clemency, the president was driven by “friendship, fame, personal empathy and a shared sense of persecution” alone. It is by now known to all that when Mr. Trump offers a ‘quid’, he does expect a ‘quo’ in return or it is in return for the ‘quo’ he has already received. Some of the clemency recipients are going be extremely useful to him in his reelection campaign that is underway. And some are going to be useful to him, his son and his son-in-law in rebuilding their business. All have been using the presidency as a means to that end.
2
If you are a millionnaire or a pal of Trump, and even better, both, dont bother to pay taxes.
Do as Trump, dont
And if you are tried anf convicted, Trump will pardon you if you "contribute" enough;
After all, having Trump as president is saving America, more than paying taxes;
Specially as others, specially, as Ms Helmsley declared forcefully, " only little people pay taxes"
Little people, you are on notice, YOU must pay your taxes
3
I guess it really does pay to have friends in high places when it comes to this president, the champion of the unfairly and horribly treated.
I suppose we should all be happy with the fact that he can’t just send anyone who disagrees with him to prison.
Makes you wonder who’s on his “Naughty or Nice” list.
This is conditioning the public for when he pardons his closest friends. Is it a coincidence that this occurs just before his friend’s sentencing?
4
Our government needs oversight.
Our congressional Oversight committee needs to have the legal ability to put anyone who fails to respond to a Congressional subpoena in a Washington, DC County jail, until such time as they submit to the laws of the United states of America.
Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff should sell men's clothing for Brooks Brothers, and make room for women Congressional leaders with a backbone.
2
Trump thinks he is the Chief of Everything, and can wield his power as he pleases. It is not yet a sign of absolute power, but reeks of absolute corruption.
1
Trump vicariously grants himself clemency.
He has defrauded people, he has lied. He has intimidated witness and jurors.
He is a criminal.
5
Trump's relentless fight against corruption continues!
Meanwhile, the Central Park Five are still waiting for a retraction...
4
So he personally calls those he pardons or whose sentences he commutes; but those he fires (e.g., John Rood yesterday; James Comey in May 2017, and many others passim) learn about it from the press or from some other functionary. Despite his 'Apprentice' persona, the man is a coward, pure and simple.
A pathetic excuse for a man. Bigly pathetic.
I wonder how much of the inside of a prison cell Roger Stone will see. I suspect none.
4
This is abuse of the pardon power, pure and simple.
Republican senators, once again, get your heads out of the sand!
[And yes I’m well aware of notorious Bill Clinton and Marc Rich but this is on an entirely different scale.]
5
La Cosa Nostra, Trump-style.
What a racket.
3
Agree with others comments, this has nothing to do with friendship or empathy. It has to do with power and manipulation. Pardoning those who pleaded guilty, when there is no doubt of the guilt as in the case of Miliken, is a display of power. It is a display of I can do it because I can and no one can stop me. Is it morally right, showing some deserved mercy or good for the country? No, but that was never the end goal. Pay attention to the actions not the words, great manipulators are skilled with words but their actions tell you everything.
79
@Stacey
Actually, Milliken, who I have personal reason to dislike, and Trump, who I totally oppose, might have been OK on the Milken pardon.
Milken did serve his time. (He also had cancer, as I recall.) He has expressed remorse in situations where it was not obviously self-serving. As such, he would seem to possibly meet the traditional standards for a presidential pardon.
Of course, the fact that he established a finance finagling fraud should top all other considerations -- that legal fraud exists and destroys lives of innocents to this day. Back in the day, it directly wiped out a company I had joined as a near-founder, forcing me to relocate across the country.
Still, a pardon should be the result of a process. It should correct an injustice, or acknowledge strong evidence of a life, post conviction, of lawful behavior.
Trump clearly believes only the wealthy and powerful deserve any consideration, especially if either they or their friends know him.
1
@Mark Johnson You have the grace to forgive. I commend you for that since you were personally effected by one of those pardoned. That does not mean that all the other victims deserve the disservice of having the crimes committed by Milken and others erased. If remorse were the sole factor in determining such there would be many more deserving cases for pardons than any of these that Trump chose. He is doing this to inure us to the seriousness of the crimes and to gaslight us into thinking that white collar crimes are somehow less injurious to the public than non-white collar crimes.
2
Pelosi’s fears come true. Way back when, she refused to start impeachment proceedings after the Mueller report. Then the phone call/whistleblower momentum pushed the House forward. In hindsight, the clearest vision of all, the impeachment seems to have fueled a disregard for order. The weak case by the House and milquetoast Senate have rendered the first branch of government ineffectual at this time. They are the Royal family of the United States Government. They do not control the purse nor do they have checks and balances. The country will be run by executive order and declarations of emergency.
I don’t know if it’s right or wrong. I just get up in the morning and go to work.
2
Everything for Trump is near-term transactional.
This is a clear message to any Trump cohort who is being investigated or prosecuted not to snitch on Trump, as a pardon is coming. Just like his comments re Roger Stone.
The secondary reason is to gather financial and other support for his reelection, and maybe even a few favors for future Trump Inc. projects.
1
Donald Trump has weaponized the presidential pardon into a vote-getting tool for himself. With Mr. Trump, there is no critical thinking to the issuance of a pardon, only what do I get out of it. A pardon has become nothing more than a party favor or gift bag to be handed out on a whim. Truly from the mindset of a monarch. If only there were more senators with the courage of Mitt Romney. We might have been past the nightmare that emanates from the Oval Office.
1
I think that receiving a 35 year sentence for a Medicare fraud scheme, no matter the size of it, is very excessive. Judith Negron was 40 years old at the time of sentencing. That is basically a life sentence. The FBI said that hers, and the sentences of the other 2 people involved in the scheme that were 35 and 50 years, were the longest sentences EVER imposed in a Medicare fraud case. Most fraud scheme sentences are no more than 10 years. She has served 8 years of her sentence. Many murderers and rapists are released within those timeframes. Trump granted her clemency, not a pardon. She is still obligated to pay back the $87 million restitution, still has 3 years of supervised release and all other terms of the sentence. I haven't looked at the other pardons/clemencies in depth, but I feel this clemency is just. Eight years served is enough.
So much for equal justice under the law. I don't recognize my country anymore.
4
"Trump's antipathy to law enforcement": a common attitude of those who spent a lifetime involved in shady behavior.
4
Clearly some of these people paid for their pardons, and the rest was cover plus encouragement to other Trump lawbreakers to remain loyal and not talk.
2
I can still remember a time when I would have said “unbelievable.“
5
Trump and his advisors on Fox “News” bleated and brayed about uranium and pay to play by the Clintons yet there was nothing to see, no pay to play.
So, Trump engages us pay to play, a little quid pro quo, and the Republicans and talking heads on Fox “News” say nothing about the appearance of selling pardons, clemency and commutation of sentences.
The Trump swamp becomes more fetid and foul on a daily basis.
5
The swamp draining the prison swamp. This is too funny.
3
It's who you know.
God help the tens of thousands of deserving nobodies who are thrown away to prison and forgotten.
We need someone who will tackle the system, not just give personal favors.
72
Trump is releasing them all to get their support for his next election financially and their business after his presidency.
13
And they were all cons, like our president. Birds of a feather...
21
trump has declared 65% of Americans are his enemy and that as president it is is his right to use the office of president to attack them.
trump has declared integrity, honesty, ethics , principles US Law and the US Constitution as his enemy, he uses the office of president to attack them and 35% of this country support that behaviour as well as worships and adores trump.
11
I guess all the associates of crooks will definitely vote for Trump.
7
easy to forget that trump campaigned on pardoning the swamp
5
Mr T is intoxicated by his narcissism.
This demonstration of his pardon power is just a preview into the pardoning of Stone and his own possible future when no longer protected by his 'duly elected' position.
I predict he will finish out his days expat in Russia drinking Stoli
with Putin.
6
The failure of the impeachment trial to convict Trump will long be viewed as a profound national tragedy.
But recidivism is inevitable for this mostly unrepentant bunch, headlined by Rod Blagojevich. Many of these crooks will do something else, and go right back to jail. Along with Donald Trump himself.
7
Trump continues to abuse his power and demonstrate total disregard for law and order. His behavior is that of a crime boss, not a president. He has the full support of the Republican Party in his rejection of decency and fairness.
12
Selling indulgences. Where's Martin Luther when we need him?
9
Trump made it official, though it's something we all knew. There is a different system of justice for the rich and well connected. Pretty sickening.
9
My favorite situation still is the ASAP rocky - Sweden situation trump intervened in at the behest of the west-kardashins.
1
I completely agree with Austin Ouellette who blames the media for handing the election to Trump in 2016. The media failed miserably in providing fair coverage for Hillary Clinton and gave Trump tons of free advertising without any accountability by him for his lies and bullying.
Hopefully the media will get it correct about Trump’s pardons of a few African American women. Trump doesn’t care one wit about the humans involved. He’s simply employing a political ploy, hoping to con more African Americans into supporting him. Let’s not let Trump con the public yet again!
10
Anyone not horrified by this is either not paying attention or is too wealthy to care. It is not just who Trump has pardoned - as reprehensible as these greed-focused criminals are - it is that he has done so now in the run-up to the elections. It signifies what our country has become. Trump knows he is not answerable to the people. He is assured of his re-election -if you can even call it an election anymore.
4
NYT should FOIA for the DOJ statistics on prosecutions and convictions by the number of statute that was allegedly violated. None of these articles on the DOJ are really discussing the agency's role in law enforcement. A lot of people think that murder is a federal crime.
3
This whole affair is like watching a sanctioned jailbreak (abetted by the president, no less) where truly odious, duly convicted (white) criminals can be shielded among less notable, more sympathetic lower level (ethnically diverse) miscreants.
It is, after all, to avoid precisely that kind of perversion of justice that there is a rational, established process to evaluate applications for pardons and commutations. But we know that our president is allergic to rational, established procedures, don't we? These antics only further degrade American justice and soil what will be Trump's disgraceful legacy.
6
Trump loves to thumb his nose at the rule of law: it's fun for him. For certain he is not pardoning these crooks without expecting some kind of payback. He'll find jobs for them where they can do him most good. Think of all the other criminals in prison who would do ANYTHING for him in exchange for a pardon.
The deconstruction of our democracy is picking up pace. Will we last until November?
6
Donald doesn't care about the optics. I'm sure these pardons have a benefit to him somehow. He has no morals and this makes it easy for him to pardon these individuals.
3
Trump's decision to pardon "was driven instead by friendship, fame, personal empathy and a shared sense of persecution". Agree on all except personal empathy, as a narcissist the president is not capable of empathy, but he may be smart enough to feign it.
5
When do the Hong Kong style protests begin here, weekly if not daily, until the attention of the Senate is seized?
IF NOT NOW, WHEN?
11
Thanks, Republicans in congress, for virtually overnight, turning our wonderful country into a banana republic. How you can look in the mirror and not feel shame is beyond me, and countless others. To be afraid of this guy to the extent you sell your soul is unbelievable.
11
This is the new normal.
And I think it’s laying the groundwork for the important pardons.
Stone, Flynn, Manafort and immunity for Giuliani.
5
This is not about mercy; it is not about empathy; it is not about friendship. This is about the arrogance and corruptness of absolute power. With one hand he prides himself on the use of this power to help his criminal acquaintances (he has no use for a "friend"), on the other hand he uses it mercilessly and ruthlessly to destroy his non-criminal enemies. The Senators, billionaires, and apparatchiks who happily enabled this will someday feel it's sting.
149
@Bibi
What billionaires, exactly ?
1
@Buddydog - The Kochs and their allies.
4
@Bibi
Even those criminals who Trump felt SUCH compassion for may be cast adrift, when Trump sees a reason to claim: 'Stone? Don't know him, never met the man'.
3
An "ad hoc scramble that bypassed the formal procedures" describes most actions by this administration. Unfortunately, we will see more Trump bypasses until the November election. Trump likes to assert power and test boundaries, but he ignores the responsibilities that come with living in the White House.
Trump has doled out these pardons to look like a nice guy (he's not) and to claim his self-appointed role as "chief law enforcement officer" (he's not). King Donnie thinks no one will notice or care that most of the pardons were given to people with connections to Trumpworld. He's wrong, again.
8
From day one, Trump has shown through his tweets and actions that he does not believe that lying and fraud are against the law as long as he or his friends are doing it. No surprises here.
10
With every "quid" there was, is, and/or will be a "pro quo"! So much for democracy for the 329 million of the rest of us!
5
I am struck by the sentence "Mr. Kerik hit the phones". Maybe I'm missing something, but do federal inmates have unfettered access to phones, or is this one of those white collar incarceration-lite things?
13
These pardons are just advance prep for Roger Stone's pardon. When it looks like Trump will lose office count on a long list of business associates to be pardoned, particularly those who can influence future hotel deals.
3
He finished his sentence, wasn't in prison anymore.
After he and Jared compiled a quick list of personal connections, they must have thought, hmm we should get some African American faces on here to help with my election appeal so we can have some more super bowl-like ads. I mean really- it’s pretty hard to find any minority who raves about the Donald. Then since he hardly knows any Black people, he had to tap his Kardashian connection to find folks to fit the bill. I think that’s the only reason those people were lucky enough to draw his attention. And while I don’t doubt that they were probably more worthy of pardon that the white collar criminals who were forgiven, this is not the right way to fix a broken system. It is only causing more damage and bringing us further into banana republic territory.
15
Regarding Ms Negron, the woman from Florida convicted of Medicare fraud of more than $200,000: Florida law now requires that former inmates pay complete restitution before regaining voting rights. Does this apply to Ms Negron and, if not, why not?
What a message! Cheat Medicare and be rewarded after cozying up to the right people.
19
In the Age of Trump, we may add Federal prosecutors and diplomats to the list of careers that will no longer draw individuals with principles, integrity and noble ideals.
Thanks to the complicity of the GOP, the nation is now a mirror-image of the ghastly Trump Organization.
Bitter vindication for those of us who predicted this in 2015.
8
Crime has paid for Trump, so it should pay for his cronies. At least while Trump is able to upend the system of justice built over the last two centuries. While justice was blind Trump disrobed her.
7
Why is anyone concerned or even reacting to this? This behavior is quite characteristic of Mr. Trump.
This will give Mr. Trump more fodder for his messages. He's getting exactly what he wants!!
Trump pardons individuals like Sheriff Arpaio, Gallagher, or these most recent white collar criminals, because Trump insightfully recognizes how he can leverage the attention he receives from pardoning newsworthy individuals who will in turn promote Trump. Why are there 14,000 clemency applications gaining dust, because they are not newsworthy people and Trump would receive nothing in return from them. Trump is a savvy promoter and he keenly looks for actions that provide a ripple effect of continuing attention to Trump.
8
A more apt description of Trump’s actions is to excuse and exonerate crimes of the financial oligarchy in the US. So in effect, if you are wealthy, it is fine to embezzle money, bribe politicians, float ‘junk bonds’ which are used for leveraged buyouts, plant closures, resulting in thousands of jobs lost, or hand out mortgages to individuals with bad credit, who subsequently foreclose on their property. When the banks granting these loans are faced with insolvency, the US public is there via the FED to bail them out (not the homeowners). Is this Trump’s idea of making ‘America Great Again’? Pathetic.
See- Trump pardons ruling class criminals By Patrick Martin Feb 20, 2020; Link: www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/20/pard-f20.html
4
Acts of compassion from a most uncompassionate man toward proven rogues surely must be viewed in the context of what especially self serving pardons may be coming next for his criminal co-conspirators. Call it a smoke screen.
3
Among several other political motives, does the phrase “quid pro quo” have a familiar ring to it?
5
" it reinforced Mr. Trump’s antipathy toward the law enforcement establishment."
Only when it comes to white and white collar criminals. Their are loads of innocent black and brown people in jail for offenses that now get folks sent to rehab. This is just another example of 21st century racism at it's zenith.
3
Trump's use of the pardon to free his jailed cronies, political allies and current (and future) donors from the consequences of their deviant behavior - wiping their slates clean - is akin to the Catholic Church's practice of selling indulgences. Same corrupt, power-driven rationale.
As the Church abused the selling of indulgences so Trump abuses the pardon.
7
Trump keep his promises , He said he is going to drain the swamp.
He is literally doing it. but he didn't explain where to drain. He is draining in to the society.
1
Vote in November. Get your friends who are eligible to vote in November. Turnout is the antiseptic we need.
5
Blagojevich, the face of pay to play and Milken the face of everything people hate about Wall Street... this is a ready made campaign add for the Democrats. If they ever stop attacking each other instead of Trump...
6
Ok, I've got an idea. . . remember Leonard Peltier? He is the American Indian activist sentenced to 2 life sentences for the death of 2 FBI agents who died in a shootout at Wounded Knee, SD some years ago.
People have been lobbying for clemency for Peltier for years. President Clinton might have granted clemency - but he did not want to go crossways with the FBI, which surely would have happened had Clinton granted clemency on this case.
It seems me that now is the best time to lobby for Peltier's clemency. Trump is actually looking for opportunities to irritate the FBI. However one tricky detail is the Peltier family certainly does not have the $200,000 necessary to donate to Trump's "Clemency Fund".
Here's my idea: How about we all start a Go Fund me campaign for Leonard Peltier's Clemency, and raise $200,000 to get the President's attention? Then Leonard Peltier can finally go home. Good idea, or no? Donald, you listening?
9
Pardon payola! Quid pro quo pardons. You scratch my back,your friends get out of jail. Don't the rural rubes realize this is "big city" standard operating procedure? You want a break with a pesky zoning issue? Donate to a campaign. This IS the swamp. This is how the swamp operates. This is ,at its core, swamp behavior.
3
What drives Trump? One thing and one thing only. Corruption.
The Republicans in the Senate have killed our country.
8
Well we now know just how concerned Trump is about corruption!
BRIBERY. That's what connected these con artists to the king of con artists.
5
Trump is not the sheriff or police chief or district marshal in Dodge City. He is a corrupt liar who will do and say anything to hold onto power.
4
Anybody care to place a bet on just how long Roger Cohen will stay in jail even if he's convicted of the most heinous crimes possible?
Drain the swamp.....so you can make room for the large scale ogres.
1
What a joke , the Clinton official, what about Frank Rich? Eric Holder vetted that one, how much did Rich and his wife cotribute to Clinton?, I also understand after the pardon, Rich’s wife expatriated from the US, didnt like paying taxes, what a farce and stain on the Clintons. Why dont you mention this?
I knew that particular “whaddabout” would soon surface.
@Paul
Unlike trumpist sycophant followers, most democrats I know, found the Mark(!) Rich pardon to be quite obscene.
Also remember that "whataboutism" can not be used to justify the corruption of the trump administration.
PS Frank Rich is the former theater critic and liberal essayist of the NYT. Your Freudian slip is quite understandable. I am sure that Frank will not need a presidential pardon for anything he's done, although some theater directors may disagree...
1
Is this what "draining the swamp" means?
1
The rationale for the recent pardons is clear for the rational. Trump had not pardoned anybody for three months, which is dozens of new cycles away. Any(?) imminent Stone/Flynn pardons would have stood out like a sore Constitution, in the absence of the manufactured/calculate pardon-related pattern and practice/business as usual.
1
Freedom for cronies, cages for children.
20
Sort of like Clinton's pardon of Mark Rich...
2
@TWW Trump is far worse and in multiples.
3
@TWW, exactly...times eleven. “The 11 Criminals Granted Clemency by Trump...”
2
AG Barr: We can all agree that it is within your purview to review any case brought by your Department.
That point notwithstanding, what is it about Roger Stone’s case that would indicate that the proposed sentence, which is clearly consistent with Justice Department guidelines, warranted reduction?
Mr. Stone demonstrated no remorse. There was no contravening evidence introduced. There were no credible reports of bias or malfeasance on the part of the prosecutors or jurors.
So, Mr. Barr, what exactly was the basis for your decision?
America looks forward to your reply.
10
We’re gonna need a bigger Swamp.
Seriously.
11
What drove Trump's clemency orders? Simple gas-lighting: Trump and his family (Ivanka, Jared, Don Jr and Erik) cannot completely drain the US Treasury into their hidden accounts until the American people/idiots are happily convinced that stealing other peoples money is not a crime. After all, the Government printed it, and Trump is the Government - so it all belongs to Him anyway!
7
Come on, Democrats, stop with this hypocrisy. Even the NYT found Obama a bit too generous. He enacted the most grandiose acts of mercy of all known presidents.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/us/politics/obama-commutations-pardons-clemency.html
2
@Rose M
Not a bunch of people that will end up contributing to his campaign (why almost all Prez pardon on their way out the door) and the whole group is just a who ya know and when do I get to go to Mar a lago? This is disgusting.
3
@Rose M
Right, those low level drug dealers had a crony in the wh who fixed it for them.
2
At least Obama didn’t have oodles of buddies to pardon. Some of Trump’s commutations and pardons are for people who committed crimes getting him elected. It would be one thing if there was just one guy who was aggressively pursued due to his connections to Trump, but we’re talking about many folks convicted of various things, and it’s fairly obvious that only his presidency is protecting Trump himself from being likewise convicted.
Expect there to be an endless stream of Rs trying to get pardons for their favorite local felons. Will The Occupant grant all of them? When will it end?
2
Scofflaws love scofflaws....and there's no bigger scofflaw than Individual #1.
Lawlessness and corruption are NOT Making America Great Again.
Restore Law and Order
Register and Vote.
November 3 2020
12
No, your headline is wrong........what drove this is to show everyone that he thinks this cheating, lying and stealing is OK, because that's what he has done to others all his life.
7
New reality show: "Crooks Pardoning Crooks."
With 62 million fools in the audience.
6
What drove Trump is two things, favors to friends and a threat to do more of these. What it has clearly shown is Presidential pardon and clemency needs to be revisited in light of a corrupt President. As the President essentially has the power under the Constitution to revisit and change the decision of another co-equal branch of government, the threshold should be raised by Constitutional amendment to have a second branch of government agree and that would be the Congress. As in impeachment there should be a 2/3 Senate threshold to change a decision by the judicial branch. That would give future Presidents pause before granting pardons, or clemency to their friends, the wealthy and allies.
10
We're really in uncharted waters here, folks. Pardons aside, Trump is doing much more than just exercising his right of free speech. He is the President and declared himself the "Chief law enforcement officer of the country."
He believes he has every right to intervene in criminal cases to help his friends and donors, while at the same time calling for investigations into his critics and political rivals. He attacks our judges, juries, the entire judicial system, the FBI and entire intelligence community
Some might dare call this meddling, obstruction of justice or worse, but the GOP Senate has given him the keys to Trump Kingdom.
242
@Mark McIntyre
It's classic banana republic stuff.
17
@Mark McIntyre uncharted, hardly. This is a tale as old as time that the US has til now mostly avoided. Alas, no more.
13
@Mark McIntyre
called himself a King....that was after he called himself god
8
Alice Johnson was pardoned by Trump in order to make points with Black voters, not as a humanitarian gesture. It is just another example of Trump using the power of his office to influence an election.
12
Tick tick went the clock
The process was ad hoc
Procedures that were formal
Were bypassed Wasn’t normal
The whole thing was a scramble
Remember the Preamble?
The US Constitution
‘We, the people...
In order to establish Justice...’
Justice? Not for us
They felt a sense of persecution
I feel there is but one solution
We have a voice Remember
Make the right choice in November
8
"a shared sense of persecution"
Hahaha. Like, what criminal doesn't feel persecuted? A sense of persecution does not make a criminal innocent of the crime he or she committed. Some of these pardons are obvious attempts to gain points with people of color but most are for guilty white men who harmed a lot of us "little people".
6
I lived under Kerik's term in New York City and he was not a "good guy". I remember full well what and why he was convicted. For his sentence to be commuted (and pardoned!) is beyond my imagination. There are injustices committed daily in courtrooms around the world. We happen to live in a country which has gone overboard with institualizing people. Of course there are going to be mistakes. However, this is as far from a mistake as can be...except for Michael ("The Junk Bond King") Milken's pardon.
7
Not surprising that the only people with whom he has empathy are like him--corrupt.
9
@SLB
He needs to let them out bc Rudy cant be the only one out there doing his dirty work for 2020.
Any one of these pardons would be outrageous if granted by any other president. For Trump, it was just another Tuesday. Stay tuned...we ain't seen nothin' yet.
1
The court system, prosecutors, juries, law enforcement...none of them matter.
Donald J. Trump IS the law of the land.
3
What's next ? A ticker tape parade for wealthy, well -connected criminals ?
1
@DJS A Party at Mar A Largo, charged to the Treasury, no doubt. You're paying for Kerick's celebratory 21 year old Scotch.
Seriously, folks. Go back and look at other pardons given by Presidents of both parties. This is not so unusual. There have been questions and concerns about pardons forever. It's really become tiresome to see everything Trump does in bold and disparaging headlines. Calling him evil and a dictator who is somehow destroying democracy in the United States of America? Come on! Vote him out in November. We'll see how much of a change comes about.
1
This article is incredibly naive. Trump doesn't have friends, as anyone who pays attention would know. These pardons, like his earlier ones, are a signal to those who might betray him.
The fact that he doesn't really know these people actually IS the message: Don't worry, even if you're not close to me, you'll get a pardon if you play ball with me
8
“All eleven had an inside connection or were promoted on Fox News.” Trump’s daily tweet agenda is also driven by Fox News. Because Trump spends his “executive time” in bed in his bathrobe watching Fox News, their conspiracy theories, their causes, and their demands are his. He is utterly manipulable. Trump’s the Fox News President. Or, Rupert Murdoch is effectively our President.
7
We live in a banana republic.
4
“There is now no longer any pretense of regularity,” said Margaret Love, who served as pardon attorney under President Bill Clinton“
Margaret Love, meet Marc Rich.
1
"he reached Geraldo Rivera, the Fox News correspondent and a friend of Mr. Trump’s. Mr. Rivera, who described Mr. Kerik as “an American hero,”
OMG I would love a followup on that statement.
2
@Don Turner And Geraldo is still mining Al Capone's vault.
2
"Countering the excesses of the criminal justice system."??? Like he did the Central Park Five?
4
What drove Trump's clemency orders? The same that drove Bill Clinton's and Barack Obama's. Thank you.
1
When we see this in any other country, we call it Presidential corruption.
25
"Advocates for justice overhaul said Mr. Trump should be praised for his interventions.'Some people are trying to bash Trump for letting people circumvent the process and go directly to the White House,' said Amy Ralston Povah, the founder of the Clemency for All Nonviolent Drug Offenders Foundation. “But the system is broken.”
"It's ironic that the founder of "Clemency for ALL Nonviolent Drug Offenders" has praised Trump for pardoning select, wealthy ,well connected individuals., some of whom have contributed tremendous amount of money to Trump.
How many poor , unconnected. nonviolent drug offenders has Trump pardoned?
17
Only where Donald Trump is concerned can I read “celebrity felon” and “American hero” in the same story.
Everything is upside down under this fake President, as he celebrates the most despicable among us - those who, just like him, abused their vast wealth, power and privilege to cheat and defraud their fellow citizens. Meanwhile, thousands of the wrongly convicted, mostly poor, mostly minorities, definitely not “celebrity felons”, languish in our prisons.
We are now getting to see every single day how unfettered power is to be used by the worst human being imaginable. Sad indeed.
15
Reminds one of Bill Clinton's last minute pardon of Marc Rich. Amazing what a good campaign donation will do.
5
@Stratman
Doesn't make it right. What's funny is that Denise dropped the cash, then later her US citizenship. The rich really are different.
1
Of course, this has never happened before with past Presidents. Get over yourselves.
2
@vince williams I love when people justify when someone does something wrong with someone else doing the same thing wrong too in the past. Get over yourself, you are a funny guy.... no not really.
2
don the con's philosophy: they didn't do anything worse than I did.
so ... GOP "rule of law" is another sham just like fiscal responsibility
5
Trump is now pardoning criminals who he will then appoint to various positions, where they will owe him absolute loyalty for being out of jail.
8
Want something from Trump? Go on Fox news and praise him. Seems to work every time!
15
Donald Trump is not draining the swamp; he is feeding the swamp creatures.
8
Making America Great Again-- for complete crooks. So much winning....
8
How about compassion? He pardoned seven women in need. You will never know if you read the NYTimes.
3
Let’s face it: Trump is buying himself a new cohort of white collar criminal thugs who will stop at nothing to enrich themselves with wealth and/or power. They now owe him. He owns them now, out of the reach of the law. Others - especially the bankers and fossils oligarchs already above the law - with an enabling corporate media. Watch out!
5
All of these clemency's had one thing in common, Trump's signature "quid pro quo".
14
Previous presidents have typically waited until the end of their last terms to issue pardons. The lame duck period.
Apparently Mr. Trump is admitting his is a lame duck president right now.
8
Whose swamp are we draining?
1
I am amazed that his missed old Bernie Madoff!
7
Ooooh, it IS a sweet time to be a shady mobster in America!
Remember when Superman was invented? He went after the mob with special focus, because at that time, the Mafia was making life miserable for America.
Truth, Justice and the American Way. Wasn't that the motto back when America was great, republicans?
Now trumpies are interested only in trump favoring them in their need for white power. They even say it openly: They'd be 'losers' for passing up the opportunity trump promises them exclusively.
It's Springtime for Mobsters! And polluters, and totalitarians, and corporate profit.
5
No doubt Trump expects a substantial donation from Milken
4
“Celebrity felon” is my new favorite.
6
@PJ Unfortunately, it's been around for years. Remember Fatty Arbuckle?
It’s indeed too bad that Mr Trump didn’t watch The Gong Show.
1
The theme of this article is how “personal connections” spurred the several pardons and sentence reductions handed out over the past week by Donald Trump, and that theme is accurate. The connections, however, are less important than two other factors.
One bigger story is the typical thirst of Donald Trump for publicity, and the fact that there so many celebrity beneficiaries of his largesse is evidence of that motivation.
An even more important story is the groundwork which Trump is laying for the public and the courts, as he gets ready to interfere on behalf of Roger Stone and other co-conspirators – including Rudy Giuliani and Paul Manafort – to avoid their flipping against him.
15
It's fundraising season! What better way to secure donations than to show what a big campaign contribution will buy?
13
It will be interesting to watch the United States transform from a country governed by "rule of law" to a country governed by "might equals right."
This is particularly true because of the fact that the country is overflowing with weapons- high powered automatic weapons.
Imagine the kind of damage that could be done in that context. We might end up looking like Iraq or Afghanistan.
Wow, what an achievement for Mr trump.
9
Note that with the exception of the 2 unnamed women, all of those pardoned were privileged white men. And the beat goes on..
I sense a new source of Trumpian income is emerging. Wonder what its costing these folks in terms of future royalties, or outright payments. Love for sale they say....
10
As long as the President of the U.S. has this overarching power to pardon, he really is the Chief Law Officer. If the President can wave his magic wand and erase any decision determined by our legal process, every decision is ultimately his.
7
if you take a longer view of these actions, it seems that he is trying to normalize the types of corruption and ethics violations that he has and still continues to build his life around in the event he doesn't win re election. he thinks he can thus rightly claim this isn't illegal or criminal when faced with the consequences of his actions after he can no longer claim executive immunity.
6
And so he is setting the precedent stage for when he would require a pardon in the future. What a better way to feather one's nest.
2
Trump sees himself in those whom he released from longer term jail sentences. Everything Trump says and does revolves around Trump's self-image. He can only see the world in Trump terms. So Trump did what he would have wanted for himself in similar circumstances. Just as Trump tried to use taxpayers dollars to get Ukraine to go after Biden, for personal political advantage, so too Trump saw Blago offering up a Senate seat for personal political dollars as something Trump might have done himself.. Trump sees Gold where the rest of us see Orange (Orange = caution) To Trump orange means go for the gold.
8
Every day. Every day its something else. Trump makes sure that he pushes the envelope of our government ever closer to the form of a corrupt dictatorship.As South America emerges from centuries of despotism, we seem destined to take its place as an example of utter hopelessness and oligarchy.
Will we also adopt the pattern of the military being used mostly to keep the populace in line? Trump has already suggested it.
6
@Jerseytime I don't doubt for a moment that Trump will try to order the military to help him stay in office if he is defeated this fall.
But a few weeks ago General Kelly went out of his way to say that LTC Vindman was correct to report an illegal order to his supervisor. "That's what we teach them to do cradle to grave," he said.
That made me breathe a sigh of relief. After pardoning the Navy Seal and leaving his thumb prints all over the UCMJ which the military sees as its own rules, they are not in Trump's pocket.
The Military will do their duty. Don't worry about it.
1
This morning's NYT has a compelling article by Mr. Cass Sunstein for the creation of an independent Justice department agency free or least much less influenced by the President. The Justice Department is as we have seen not only the AG, but spreads its tendrils into every part of our country allowing Trump to influence the outcome of trials and sentences. This idea should be a front page story and must be taken seriously by our lawmakers before our Justice Department becomes the dark arm of the president, his version of American storm troopers.
9
Not odd at all that all these pardons come during the election year. There is much to be learned about who some would give another four years. This article connects the dots for many of us who are not aware of the inner circle of corruption that 45 has as a long history.
Since we now have a much more lenient view of weed use, and some states have legalized it, lets go back through the records and free all those retroactively for whom this is their only offense. That would send a lot of people home who are not "friends" of the current white house occupant.
5
This is exactly the kind of event that Trump's television sense attaches to. The press conferences with images of teary-eyed gratitude, the god-like powers that Trump holds over their lives, it all reminds me of that moment he staged in the State of the Union speech where the family of a soldier is reunited on national TV. It was clearly awkward for the family but the viewers get a huge "aw schucks" moment. Meanwhile Trump makes sure the press notices every single clemency , especially if they are black
9
These pardons are of a piece with Trump's flagrant retaliation against government officials who testified truthfully in the impeachment hearings, his using the power of his office to hurt businesses (e.g. Amazon, CNN) that are headed by people who dare to question him, and the endless ad hominem attacks via tweets - and the resulting harassment by the online MAGA mob - towards those who refuse to pretend that the emperor is wearing clothes.
Together, these tactics convey a clear message: Trump will not be constrained by norms or laws as he rewards his friends and punishes his enemies. Reporting that does not provide this context is misleading, and only serves to further embolden this wholly corrupt president.
10
"One Thing in Comon: Connections"
I'd like to know a *lot* more about the connection between donations and pardons.
4
In spite of the Presidential pardons (which are completely despicable), these individuals will still have to live with the crimes they have committed and their consciences (if they even have one) will never be clean or even at peace. A Presidential pardon will never change the crimes they have done….so, enjoy the moment.
3
Let's face it, if Al Capone the Ponzi scheme fellow were alive today, Trump in his infinite disregard for the law, ethics and decency would have immediately pardon them on the ground that they were businessmen unfairly treated by a rigged judicial system.
Anyone dares the contradict? Has anyone seen a more corrupt &nindecent individual that the Fellow?
5
Demolition Donald is on a roll and not one Republican leader has the guts to stop him.
They will desperately wish they had this November.
7
When a president uses the power of the office to commute sentences and pardon people for crimes in which THAT PRESIDENT is suspect or implicated, we have become nothing more than Russia or North Korea. It is time for Congress to step up and put an end to this. I'm looking at you, GOP!
6
Birds of a feather. We had already seen this behavior in setting “Sheriff Joe” free despite the prisoners who died do to his policies. But the other side of the coin are the folks he attacks like the Central Park Five of nearly 20 years ago. By hook or by crook, he wants things his way and his enablers are too frightened or unethical to follow the oaths they took.
Beware of geeks bearing grifts.
2
" While aides said the timing was random, it reinforced Mr. Trump’s antipathy toward the law enforcement establishment."
Every crook as an "antipathy toward the law enforcement establishment."
15
The Constitution gives the House of Representatives the power of ocersight of the executive branch to protect from exactly what is going on right now with mad king Donald.
Senate Republicans aren’t fooling anyone. They are aiding and abetting the wannabe dictator Trump, and they have willfully betrayed their oath to support and defend the Constitution.
We are now at the point where the accomplices must be held accountable as well.
The Republicans are playing for keeps.
The Americans have to play for keeps now.
9
Why do jury duty folks? And if trump is serious about drug reform, LEGALIZE IT!
3
The medium is the message here- cheating, lying, corruption are “smart” & “good”, white collar crimes worthy of pardon by a white collar criminal, but fairness, truth, and justice are bad. The pardon of these 11 crooks is the signal: the next Presidential election is a simple choice, vote on the side of cheating, lying, and corruption, or vote for justice, fairness, and truth.
51
@Robert M. Koretsky Were you equally outraged when Bill Clinton pardoned fugitive financier Marc Rich an hour before heading to Bush's inauguration.
1
@Stratman
Every sign of corruption outrages me...no matter who is behind it.
Gosh, the word “Friendship” in your headline sounds warm and fuzzy, almost admirable. Does Donald Trump do anything for friendship? What I see is that he rewards loyalty, punishes adversaries, and pursues his self-interest, even symbolically. In pardoning political grifters and financial frauds he’s putting the word out that those aren’t real crimes.
47
Well, Illinois, you got your favorite son back. Your man would fit right in with the Trump administration. Everyone sells Senate seats, don't they? get over it. He still seemed proud of his behavior as he walked out of prison.
Seriously, though, he was and is an embarrassment to your state.
33
I don't think you'll hear many dissents to your opinion from my fellow Illinoisians; many here of all political affiliations have long protested even the hint of a pardon. Blagojevich was caught red-handed and, based on our state's shameful history of gubernatorial corruption, his sentence fit the crime. That he's unrepentant and referring to himself as a "political prisoner" doesn't surprise me.
11
Trump pardoned Blagojevich for one reason.
His wife—who's also a piece of work—went on Fox News and trashed Comey and Mueller.
That's it.
Nothing else mattered to Trump.
119
Maybe that was the icing on the cake, but I think it covered seven layers of cash. Trump has always, always, always been for sale.
13
@Joe
Thought it would be worth checking Wiki to see what they had to say about Big Rod, ... there's a lot there.
At first I thought Trump's pardon was based on a shared affinity for outlandish hair styles and extravagant ties, but then there's his political history, and especially how he learned the ropes. The parallels are striking; it's like Trump learned his trade at Blagojevich's knees.
5
@Bohemian Sarah
Indeed. The question crossed my mind this morning - how can Republicans - particularly those in Congress and especially the Senate - justify their defense of Trump with explanations that he - like Giuliani - are intent on fighting corruption. That just doesn't wash, yet there has to be a rational explanation for all this.
The only one that comes to mind and also makes sense is that they are ..ALL.. on the take, from Trump all the way down to McSally, from Barr through McConnell through Collins down to Gaetz and all points in between.
But who has so much money to pay off all these people to sell out their country, to undermine a world order that has endured (sort of) since the end of WWII? Would that be worth a couple of billion $ to Trump, and a maybe a couple of billion $ for the rest of the clowns?
Could it be the person reputed to be the richest man in the world? Putin could easily lay out $5-10 billion and not really feel it, yet get great results like what we're witnessing now.
Admittedly this sounds like a great conspiracy theory, but in truth, is there a better explanation that makes sense?
4
You forgot "money".
14
Within a matter of hours he cobbled together the release of these people: "an ad hoc scramble that bypassed the formal procedures used by past presidents and was driven instead by friendship, fame, personal empathy and a shared sense of persecution."
From the first day he announced these pardons, I said he did it because he wanted to quickly shove it "in your face" to anyone who was stating that he should get out of interfering with the justice system. Once again, it's part of Narcissistic Personality Disorder - his self image as the best, the greatest, the most powerful......it's a scary place for all of America.
41
"Margaret Love, who served as pardon attorney under President Bill Clinton". This is rich. As in, Marc Rich. Chutzpah!
1
The near uniformly negative responses here show how hate filled and unforgiving the American public, especially the left, has become.
5
(Coffee nearly douses laptop)
You can’t be serious. Blagojevich and Millken are not Leonard Peltier, for crying out loud. There is no public benefit to releasing such criminals. This is what autocrats do, and usually for cash now or cash later.
7
@KBronson
Tell it to ICE.
2
@KBronson or maybe they are all right and you are wrong? Hard to argue with cold numbers.
4
This is simply a message to Stone direct from the President of the United States: "Listen, I can pardon anyone I want, and I want you to know that I will do the same for you. Don't spill the beans. Please."
41
You lost me when you described the president as experiencing empathy. Also need to wipe my phone since you made me spit coffee all over it.
43
I am disgusted by who this President thinks should be pardoned. Felons and criminals, with no respect for the law or the country. This is the common thread in these pardons, as usual done as a rogue gesture rather than following protocol.
357
@JHM AND who he honors...Limbaugh? Really?
56
@JHM And what about Ms Munoz? The lady whom served almost 2 decades for marijuana charges...really? I thought it was and is the right thing to do.
@Nature - Ms. Munoz and the other deserving cases were camouflage for the white collar buddies Trump pardoned. That's important to note: by and large, the buddies were pardoned--the three women who actually seem to be deserving only had their sentences commuted--so the charges will remain on their records. And it's going to matter a whole lot more in their lives to have a criminal record than it will to Michael Milken.
6
“...but stressed that he had become personally committed to countering the excesses of the criminal justice system.” Given the number of African American men who are in prison on charges that are far less impactful with sentences that are far more excessive, I believe this comment reaches yet another low level of hypocrisy.
546
@Jandel Allen-Davis, MD
He has advanced criminal justice reform addressing exactly this problem.
6
@KBronson Where is his apology to the Central Park 5?
103
@KBronson Actually, he has not. Individual states are doing the reforms themselves. By the way it is these white collar bad actors who suck all the money out of the economy and take it away from working folks for themselves. They also cut jobs, environmental protections etc. They deserve the sentences they got.
98
So, this isn’t abuse of power? See Ms Collins? He sure did learn a lesson from the impeachment trial! The only lesson he learned, was that he could do whatever he wants, and throw around Article 2 as if it was a ball! The power of his acquittal has totally gone to his head, and now he’s completely unstoppable! I hope the GOP is so proud of the monster they created, and allowed to grow!
427
@LI RES While I agree with you completely, I would like to remind you that there is no longer a Republican Party (GOP), it is now the Trump Party and he has total control over it.
84
@LI RES
Of course Collins knew her statement was pure nonsense, but the important thing now is to hit her with it every time she appears or opens her mouth.
I hope Maine voters remember.
121
@KBronson
He "sees a wrong"and then "right[s] it"? From what statements do you gather that? I see no condemnation of the misdeeds of these corrupt, thieving liars whom he pardoned. None. No, he focusses on the supposedly "unfair" and "harsh" sentences they received, even the fact that they were even punished at all. In other words, they did nothing wrong, but were duly tried, convicted and imprisoned for nothing - in Trump's mind only.
Factor in the personal connections and the groveling on Fox News to the president, and you see his massive ego reveling in it and deciding to receive these criminals of their just desserts. Sorry, that's not mercy in any way the Lord would define it.
43
And justice. The length of one’s sentence should be based on the crime that was committed and not the personality of the person convicted. Almost every one Trump pardoned was a first time offense convicted of a non-violent crime. A Democrat President who engaged in this merciful act would be praised.
2
Because buying a Senate seat should be treat as a misdemeanor?
It is amazing how low the bar is for Trump and his cronies.
5
The “If a democrat did it they would be praised” statement is an assumption from a biased individual. No real facts or proof here.
3
“I think he’s just got an antenna to listen to people who have been truly wronged by the system.” Robert Blagojevich
Truly, truly stunning. Truly wronged would all the people and reputations trump has ruined just because he can.
21
Here, as in most other instances. Trump's decisions are driven not by ethics, morality, protocol or reason, but by his impulsive, erratic and narcissistic whims. I can imagine Roger Stone is already jumping with joy.
21
Trump follows a trail blazed by Bill Clinton.
On his last day in office, Clinton acted on Eric Holder's advice by giving a pardon to Marc Rich.
According to the Chicago Tribune, 18 Feb 2001, Rich
"had been on the lam, albeit a posh one, for 16 years, ever since his 1983 indictment by a grand jury on more than 50 counts of wire fraud, racketeering, trading with the enemy and evading more than $48 million in income taxes."
If Trump continues to practice his pardon skills, perhaps he will rise some day to the Clinton-Holder level of expertise.
2
@alyosha The trail was blazed long before Clinton.
1
@alyosha Clinton by your telling had one instance compared to these 11 by Trump. By your own numbers Trump already has exceeded Clinton's "expertise" 10-fold.
3
Heh. What were once horrible abuses of power are now okay, as Trump defenders keep lowering standards for Trump.
Trump hands out a dozen pardons to cronies, but nobody can criticize them because Clinton did the same ...once. Clinton doing it once is still bad while Trump doing it repeatedly is good.
In the same way, Trump apologists say that Trump’s 13,000 lies are okay because remember that one time Obama said something that wasn’t true?
Thing is, you’ve got to repeat this “defense” every day because every day Trump breaks another record in corruption and stupidity.
2
Granting Clemency across party lines as part of personal empathy and criminal justice reform was a brilliant step forward. The 11 criminals had suffered enough for their white collar crimes where no one died, no one was raped and overzealous prosecutors probably went too far in giving draconian sentencing.
The union of Rod Blago family was very touching and riveting. As a father and a husband who was kept away from his family, his profound gratitude to president DJT was fully understandable. I never thought that Rod was a malicious person. He was an opportunist and a goof ball with a full head of hair and making families suffer for the sins of criminals is inhumane and barbaric. Considering more African Americans are imprisoned proportionate to their population in the USA. It is time for a change and criminal justice reform needs to be revisited.
Since Denmark came up in the Dem. debate as an ideal model for the US, let me share my enlightening experience on my 1st visit to Copenhagen, Denmark. It was on a weekend and the tour bus passed a prison and the tour guide made it a point to say "today the prison is empty. The prisoners are with their families during the weekend and will return on Monday. Our govt. does not want to punish the families as much as the prisoner" Wow thats nice and thats one good way to humanely treat families. A few years later I visited Robben Island and a very different story and an example of cruelty to prisoners by the Afrikan apartheid govt.
1
The main reason for these pardons is that Trump values lies, thievery and corruption over all else. His hope is to make these the standard of behavior for America.
23
@Emile-Victor He's succeeding.
2
Senate Republicans, except Romney, own all of Trump’s actions since the day they voted to find him not guilty. Susan Collins was just their sacrificial lamb-totally expendable. They shoved her out to the front of the pack for all of us to focus our rage on.
Don’t be fooled. This is just the tip of Trump and Mitch McConnell’s iceberg and it is all on every single one of them.
17
When Trump says that he is "the chief law enforcement officer of the country", for once, he is telling the truth.
2
Recalling Clinton's behavior during his lamb duck session in 2000, I would say both parties are culpable in this regard.
1
@kevin sullivan not sure what you are referring to but lamb duck sounds tasty. BTW 2000 was 20 years ago.
2
The Speaker of the House said it well: Trump projects.
He is a criminal. He likes crimes and those who commit.
Trump knows he will need a presidential pardon.
22
There were a few people who he pardoned that were placed on the list just to reflect that most of the white guys that will bow to him are not the only recipients in the group.
Photo-ops are his specialty, it is so devastating that his followers don't realize what game he is playing.
Until it affects them personally, unfortunately, they will not realize that we no longer have a fair and ethical democracy.
12
The White House press release on Michael Milken’s pardon states: “The charges filed against Mr. Milken were truly novel. In fact, one of the lead prosecutors [Rudy Giuliani] later admitted that Mr. Milken had been charged with numerous technical offenses and regulatory violations that had never before been charged as crimes.” The Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned most similar securities prosecutions, but by that time Milken had completed his two-year sentence.
As the the Wall Street Journal noted yesterday, “Mr. Milken was one of the great financial innovators of the 20th century. In the 1980s he invented the high-yield bond market that is now a financial staple but in the 1980s made capital available to entrepreneurs and young companies that otherwise couldn’t get it. In the process Mr. Milken and his employer, Drexel Burnham, challenged established Wall Street firms and corporate elites. The innovation helped to usher in two decades of rapid American growth and prosperity.”
The White House noted, “Since his release, Mr. Milken has dedicated his life to philanthropy, continuing charitable work that he began before his indictment. Over the years, Mr. Milken—either personally or through foundations he created—has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in critical funding to medical research, education, and disadvantaged children
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/tssp16.pdf
2
@William Case what about Blago and the rest?
1
@jeffk
What about the 3,100 federal prisoners Trump sprung from jail this year by supporting and signing the First Step Act into law?
Trump is just doing his best to make corruption a normal activity.
This is all part of his plan, if he ever leaves office, to avoid prison.
Lock him up along with the rest of his family and toadies.
17
Let's see if Roger Stone will be sentenced to serious jail time today in New York City. Will Stone's great pal, Donald Trump, pardon him and the rest of his cadre of bad-fellows who helped Trump win the 2016 Presiodential Election? Stay tuned.
14
The dunce who would be king presides over a government based on fealty rather than policy and laws.
16
Just wait long enough and a corrupt president may come by and award your corruption with freedom... I wonder what is the source of this kind of thinking or actual life-planning?
5
Honor among thieves.
5
It’s Trump’s friends and family special .
8
Turns out that “justice” is pronounced “just us”, because it requires personal connections to the king or his courtiers.
It’s cronyism, and pardoning your friends and allies and for political reasons isn’t “compassion”, any more than getting your friends sweet government contracts is “charity” or “business”.
13
I wonder what will happen next on the Jerry Springer show.
8
The president acted with a sense a rear-view mirror detachment and fairness. Fourteen years for a non-violent crime was out whack by ANY Western Democratic standards. Murderers don’t serve that much time. Society shouldn’t lock up criminals that we are “mad at” (including drug users). Prison should only be for persons we are legitimately “afraid of.”
3
As the proponents of the death penalty advocated by Donald Trump argue, sentences act as a deterrent. Go ahead and google how many Illinois governors have gone to prison and you’ll see why deterrence was cited by the sentencing judge and the sentencing upheld on appeal.
71
Very simple... Trump's entire world revolves around these 2 rules:
1. If unabashed loyalist, involving flattery, fealty or bribery, then treat as a close friend overlooking any faults or flaws and claim that this individual is "the greatest thing since sliced bread".
2. If not in category 1, then treat as worst enemy pulling out all stops from personal attacks to unleashing the full power of Trump's government (I include his Senate enablers) to destroy.
This is Trump's world, and much to the detriment of the US and the world, our world. He commands complete obedience - period, full stop.
19
@Tired of Complacency
You have it right. Particularly at "treat" as a close friend.
For Trump has no real friends.
3
@Tired of Complacency: wow.... SMH
Its easy to postulate multiple motives for these pardons, mostly corrupt. In Trump's case, the one motive I would rule out is compassion.
23
Of all the practical duties of a president, there are also symbolic
gestures.
Trump has proved himself lawless, so he should suffer the consequences of a lawless country.
We're gonna need a revolution.
14
@Stephen
Sadly, this appears more likely every day. And may be the only solution if Trump is reelected. In that instance, I see him running the nation by simple dictat. With IRS audits and other harassment of journalists and the press.
Unfortunately, with 40% showing loyalty tantamount to religious faith, a revolution will soon devolve into multi-sided civil war. There are few good options.
2
His profoundly immoral behavior is so out of control and he needs to be impeached for crimes against humanity for his genicide Trump and the coal powered plants in Pa. are causing Pa victims. In 2018 premature air pollution deaths from coal plants cause 3,100 fatalities. Lock him up,.
12
Why doesn't the President use his "unlimited" power to free
Curtis Flower, who, after having being tried in Mississippi 6 times for a quadruple murder, having won several appeals including one to including to the Supreme Court of the United States ?
He still sits on Death Row, Mr President, where the state of Mississippi refuses to release him; surely you can.
19
@Chris
As the headline says: No connections.
1
Trump’s criminal justice reform will help thousands, most of whom are poor. Name a president who didn’t use this power. Find another cudgel.
2
@Buster Dee What criminal justice reform ?? He's done NOTHING but free criminals that have donated money to his "campaign". Any real reform is being done at state levels. Back up your assertion with real facts. Not just sound bites from an unhinged Trump rally.
17
@Buster Dee A quick google search will lead interested viewers to many articles that show Buster Dee to be ... mistaken. NYT is not letting me post links, but anyone interested can clearly see that signing one piece of bipartisan legislation does not make Trump a great reformer, especially given everything he's done contrary to that reform.
3
@Buster Dee
With all due respect Buster, you seriously have NOT been paying attention if you think Trunk's justice reform helps anyone but the rich and powerful, save for a few for good measures, of throwing a few crumbs out there.
5
We should return to the methods of the Roman Republic and elect two Consuls (Presidents) to share the burden and responsibilities.
2
@GRAHAM ASHTON I think we'd be better off with a triumvirate.
1
In theory, we have one - Legislate, Judicial and Executive.
1
Or, forget the whole thing and hire a city manager who can be fired for poor performance.
The Trump administration makes us rethink everything, even whether or not we would be better off without the divisiveness and skullduggery of maintaining a presidency.
hang on there Bernie Madoff looks like you have all the right qualifications
38
@Autodiddy
And the Republicans will let Trump keep freeing these thieves and low life criminals with the agreement that they will arrange huge amounts of money to "flow" into their campaign coffers for this upcoming election. Money hidden in offshore bank accounts will be bled dry.
4
Looks like:
1. pardons and clemency will be for sale going into the next election cycle. Gotta buddy who is in the slammer or was convicted by a jury after a full blown due process trial proceeding ? A contribution of $___ K or more to the re election campaign can fix that.
2. If the 2020 re election team commits crimes or, engages in any conduct that may give rise to probable cause or an investigation, Trump will simply pardon them. If he wins next fall, he has 4 years to cut them loose. If he loses, he has time from election to inaugration day to cut his cronies loose.
Either way, the message is clear: help me out and you get a "get out of jail free" card.
His reckless act on impulse style is on full display with these pardons. A terrible leader to whom history will not be kind.
29
@Jim Cossitt The next step in that process is the other side of the coin - also pursuing his "enemies" for prosecution. He has already subverted the DOJ. Had the US had a real AG in the office, Mueller would have been allowed to finish his investigation - including subpoenaing Trump and his associates. Trump would have been prosecuted - there were certainly indications in the report that, but for direction from the head of the DOJ, Mueller would have recommended it even with what he had.
11
@David Right on David. He is pretty vindictive and petty, but that is consistent with his conduct as a NY real estate developer.
Given the connections and thus the pardons, I believe there is going to be an implied "quid pro quo" from each of these individuals to help trump get re-elected. I mean per this article that's how power, wealth, and influence work, right?
30
Trump pardons the people who are his reflection: unrepentant con men who think they are above the law and can lie their way through.
Just one of the many things wrong with the non-process for granting pardons is that Trump loyalists like Giuliani could take cash to use their friendship to free their clients.
This is all possible because Republicans for years have seen government as the enemy. From Reagan's "government is the problem" to now, it has been an ever growing dogma that government is a threat.
34
Let's not complicate this. donald pardoned this particular group of criminals simply because their crimes are so similar to the crimes donald has committed and will soon be charged with committing.
donald simply wants to soften Americans attitudes towards fraud, blackmail, and all the other crimes donald and his crew will soon become even more associated with than they are already. You know, just little things. Amazing when we can't count all the young men and women rotting in jails across America for selling a couple ounces of pot. In donald's eyes those are the true criminals in this country. Stealing from taxpayers is a non event.
42
@KC
Thank you for your comment. I was going to write one with similar thoughts, but you've covered it perfectly.
And we're all still waiting for Donald Trump's apology to the Central Park Five for buying a full page ad in the NY Times demanding their execution.
2
A combination of jab a stick into the eyes of chicagoans and let see who I need financial favors from and this is what you get when you challenge my authority.
18
Shouldn't there be certain crimes which cannot be pardoned, or at the least cannot be pardoned without some conditions attached? Many presidential pardons seem wholly appropriate. But when they seem primarily to reward cronyism or friendship or to be given in the hope of future favors from the person pardoned, what a stain on this constitutional privilege we are left with.
Our Constitution seems more in need of amending every month. Unconstrained presidential pardons. Life tenure for federal judges. Unlimited congressional terms. Citizenship for anyone born in the US, regardless of the tenuousness of their connection to the US. Corporations given the rights of persons. The list goes on. "Get me rewrite!" says Hollywood; Washington should too.
12
The king is magnanimous, at least to his friends. And especially to those who pay a bribe, er, make a donation to his campaign. The American republic died with Trump's acquittal in the Senate. The era of King Donald has begun.
174
These people are now all going to owe Trump big time and don’t think he won’t call in the favors.
66
Perhaps Congress should revisit the legislation prohibiting parole in the Federal prison system while enforcing sentence minimums, promoting uniformity and still providing just outcomes.
17
The power of the pardon should not exist. Yes, this president is showing his stripes in how he uses it. But it is more power than any one person should have and no president, regardless of party or ethics, should have this power. If the justice system is not just (and it certainly has its problems) - let's fix it, not allow one person to reward a few people who are lucky enough to come to his or her attention.
90
Of course Trump's defenders have proffered the Iron Clad Get-Out-of-Jail-Free, tried and true works in all courts of law defense: Whataboutism. What about Obama?!
They offer up Obama's pardons as if they were not reported upon, commented upon, examined, or found problematic. They are offered up as an excuse to do anything because, well, what about Obama?, rather than doing what's right.
These are Trump's actions. Done in the here and now. That is the definition of news. The article does a good job of explaining why these pardons are concerning, the meaning and impact of these pardons, and the message these pardons are sending. Reading it may add understanding.
24
Trump is really just Chance the gardner from Being There. This really is the Soap Opera TV series administration, no deeper than that.
Fox has total control over the impulses of our President and he has several motives for granting these pardons. He most of all wants to be”liked,” he could care less about the message this sends to the 2.3 million people incarcerated in the US or the Rule of Law. That doesn’t concern his base or his minions in Congress. He wants to prove to Americans that he alone is the Top Cop!
Forget the usual protocol for granting pardons, we have a new sheriff in town.
His enablers, McConnell, Graham, Collins, Murkowski, Gardner, et al own this. They bow to their Party leader and will pay a price this November.
39
@PatMurphy77
Equating Trump with Chance the Gardner (aka, Chauncey Gardner) is an insult to Chance. While both are ignorant and uneducated, Chance was not malignant or vengeful. Additionally, the last scene in "Being There" shows Chance as a Christ figure; while Trump may believe that he is "the chosen one", he is anything but. His actions, including these pardons, are always self-serving and not altruistic. If he really wanted to help those imprisoned unfairly, he would work with Congress to continue the reform of our criminal justice system. He won't because he believes that this would anger much of his base and not be in his self interest. While some of these individuals may actually deserve a pardon or commutation, I can't determine that w/o a full review of the specifics. However, imagine justifying cuts/limits on Medicaid b/o fraud and then pardoning the person who masterminded a $300+million fraud scheme, huh! Trump has sent a strong message that corruption is ok as long as the criminal supports him.
7
@PatMurphy77
With all due respect,
Comparing Trump to Chance is an insult to Chance.
3
This really, really puts all of the pearl clutching “but her emails” stories from 2015-2016 in perspective, doesn’t it?
I’m still so angry about that. Some of us were yelling as loud as we could that the press was making a huge mistake. They said it was actually news worthy.
Fast forward to after the election, turns out Trump’s kids were using private messaging apps to talk to Saudi Arabia, and Mike Pence used a private aol account to conduct formal business as governor of Indiana.
And now, Trump has gone full Hugo Chavez, pardoning criminals who he considers powerful allies. It kills me. The US media handed Trump the election. This all could have been prevented. All of it. No one from the media has apologized for it either. That’s another thing that really hurts. Hurts so much.
238
@Austin Ouellette Your remarks are definitely on point and the media is doing it again. In a endless search from ratings, they sensationalize everything/everyone. The media has determined the democratic front runner, already. Two states have voted (and they don't look anything like the rest of the country) and it has already been determined. It's disgusting.
1
Well, there's one thing that the United States now clearly shares with oligarchies like Russia...a "justice" system that is based on who you know, rather than on the rule of law. The poor and minorities are suppressed through harsh sentencing and financial hurdles none can overcome, while the privileged, the rich, the connected, can rely on corruption at the very top to ensure their "interests" are served. "Quid pro quo" really needs to replace "E pluribus unum" as the motto on the Great Seal.
79
And who among us doesn't think that the last parachute has Trump's name on it? He'll jump from the burning, plummeting wreck of country, comb over flapping wildly.
45
Roger Stone is a symbol of corruption in the GOP starting with Nixon, and the GOP now owns and endorses that corruption even if it includes treason. Trump's/GOP's attorneys told the public that anything goes in an election campaign, including treason if the candidate believes his election is for the greater good.
The Senate GOP with Roberts presiding unleashed and released their monsters to violate the Constitution with impunity. The whole party is now under indictment for treason and violation of the Constitution.The inevitable pardons of Stone, Manafort and Flynn will just be icing on the cake.
25
Let these pardons by Trump be a stern lesson to State and local prosecutors who slack off on criminals once the Feds take over a prosecution.
9
Presidential pardons always seem to turn into a circus. Like it or not the President of the United States gets to do this. And while Trump needed to pick possibly better candidates I remind everyone who’s throwing stones to consider Bill Clinton’s pardon of over a dozen FALN terrorists, it was a violent terrorist organization, among them those that planted the over 120 bombs in the US maiming hundreds and killing 6! And why? Well some say to get the Hispanic vote in NY State for Hillary when she was running for the US Senate. He even did it on the sly so the FBI couldn’t testify as to why they shouldn’t be granted a pardon. So to use Clinton’s lawyer in this article to explain how Trump negated the process is very disingenuous and he should have followed the process. Yes politics is in deed a dirty business. But the Left can on occasion rightly toss stones, they seem forever in restraint of throwing them when it’s someone they champion though. And I mean the far Left. I think most people saw the injustice with Clinton’s choices as people will see with Trumps.
2
Beyond obvious that he’s simply setting the stage to pardon Stone and others who might (or might have) rat on him.
This is just a side-show to dilute the outrage at his real objective: covering up his corruption and illegal behavior.
31
It was driven by fox news, the need to throw raw meat to his hungry base and to create more distraction via controversy. Also, in the back of his mind, he's hoping our NEXT President will do likewise, and pardon him.
15
Has Trump been convicted of anything? Why the talk of pardoning him? Maybe for convictions coming later?
1
@Barrie Grenell Defrauding thousands with a fake university, banned from running non profits because he stole from charities, 10 counts DOCUMENTED of obstruction of justice. A sitting president can't be indicted. Just IMPEACHED and removed. He has been IMPEACHED. He was NOT exonerated or cleared but rather the Republicans refused to hold a trial or allow witness testimony. They refused to remove a criminal that they admitted did what he was accused of but said there is no crime a president can commit if he's doing it to stay in power. Get it?
3
@Barrie Grenell in the aternate universe of leftism hate, Trump was impeachable before he was even president. Remember?
Well, I find this reasoning self serving and as condoning public corruption.
Another wall crumbling to the ground. I have no expectation that anyone I know would ever receive this treatment.
8
Of course, there's no mention here of the fact that Trump just spearheaded criminal justice reform that has and will free thousands of relatively indigent people( many of whom are minorities) serving long sentences for nonviolent crimes. 'Balanced reporting anyone?
3
@pete
so he spearheaded criminal justice reform that was good - does that give him a free pass to pardon his cronies and set a torch to DOJ? What does one good act have to do with his continual corrupt intrusion on the administration of justice? For every Alice Johnson he gets six white collar criminal buddies sprung? all coincidently convicted of crimes that he doesn't think are crimes and he doesn't want to be prosecuted for. Yeah, a real beacon of criminal justice that Trump.
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@pete from the article
"Mr. Trump’s advisers acknowledged that the process was unique to this president, but stressed that he had become personally committed to countering the excesses of the criminal justice system, a mission fueled by his own scalding encounters with investigations since taking office. In addition to his pardons, Mr. Trump in 2018 signed the First Step Act providing sentencing relief for many criminals"
2
@pete this isn’t an article about criminal justice reform — which has been in the works for years, but was held up my Mitch and his wretched Senate.
And not much point in CJ reform when 1) this administration immediately dropped Federal oversight of police departments which had been found to have framed people and lied on the stand 2)recinded the ban on privately-operated, for-profit prisons 3)lies about the rate of crimes committed by immigrants 4)let cops know that it was OK to whack someone’s head on the cruiser roof when they are aressted 5) pardoned unrepentant racist Joe Arpaio...
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Would anybody be surprised if Trump’s thinking he’s running out of bad guys for cabinet positions and sees these as new recruits?
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TRUMP Demonstrates in no uncertain terms that he is a mafia type boss who is going to give all his partners in crime free passes. While the rest of us who are honest and decent, he views as chumps. Well guess what Trump! There are MORE of us than there are of YOU. And we VOTE! Add to that the fact that the Supreme Court is due to rule on whether Deutsche Bank can release Trump's financial records. Since he's so strategic (NOT), the decision will occur between 3/2020 and 6/2020. The Supreme Court is hearing an appeal on the lower court ruling that Deutsche Bank must release records to legal authorities who are seeking to investigate Trump's allegedly criminal financial practices, with intent to prosecute. Trump's vulnerability in these cases is considerable, given the fact that the documents purportedly show Trump's engagement in alleged money laundering for the Russians. His meetings with Putin and taking Putin's advice over those of his government experts is further evidence that Trump is beholden to the Russian mobs. Trump's corruption, which he celebrates, is unspeakable. He IS the swamp!
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@John Jones Quisling remember him?
I laughed when reading that Geraldo Rivera "described Mr. Kerik as an 'American hero'...".
What if anything does El Sycophanto know about heroism?
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@Francis He obviously equates it with corruption ... just like Donald Trump.
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@Canajun guy I'm of an age when I can remember Geraldo as the cool, hip Latino who dared to swim against the tide of what was then socially 'expected' behavior, to speak truth to power and 'tell it like it is'. There are few examples that better exemplify just how far we have fallen when someone like G. Rivera is held up as a role model and success story.
Geraldo, when the Latinos want their own Rush Limbaugh
3
Looking on from across the pond, I gotta say that the past few years of development in the United States are worrisome at best, downright scary at worst.
It seems that every government institution held dear is being systematically dismantled and it's happening in broad daylight...in full view.
200 years later America has come full circle and now has its very own king.
"L'etat c'est moi" comes to mind.
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And so quickly!!
6
Mr. Trump has already concluded that he will be facing Mr. Bloomberg in 2020 election. That means he must be worried that his campaign war-chest compares very small to what Bloomberg can spend on election. So he is looking for ways to add to his campaign fund, in every way possible. Watch for major contributions coming from groups supporting the individuals that Mr. Trump just pardoned.
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Trump has turned the pardon power into a political franchise.
The goal is not justice per se but to seed corruption: once people think they can escape with a pardon through personal connections to Trump, it empowers Trump and his personal connections to extract more money and goods for his re-election. Chief among these is increasing the supply of pro-Trump personalities on Fox News.
Trump is betting that law enforcement won't turn on a Republican or "the chief law enforcement officer" Indeed, it's difficult to see when exactly it will dawn on a million frogs that the water is boiling.
I'm surprised the article didn't repeat yesterday's announcement by Jaren Kushner that they are revamping the pardon process to make it more orderly. Kushner's trying to redirect the stream of favors through his office.
When the constitution is reduced to words on the page instead of the practices that have evolved in service of the constitution, any assignment of power appears absolute. Trump is taking advantage of 40 years of Republican judicial activism.
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“The president seems proud to declare that he makes his own decisions without relying on any official source of advice, but acts on the recommendation of friends, colleagues and political allies.”
We should all be struck by the president's personal but capricious sense of mercy.
FOX News is his source for weighty matters-- this bastion of evidence-based reporting and opinion. The media giant acts like a branch of government, directing the president to stories and cases that appeal to his obsession with victimhood and injustice.
The common thread behind these pardons? People Trump identifies with, loyal Republicans (or grateful converts) who support him.
These felons were convicted and found guilty by a jury of their peers. Crime is crime and should be punished.
But not if you're pals with the president or know someone at FOX, where you can pretty much secure your future.
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@ChristineMcM - Christine, one of the other surefire ways to get clemency was for convicted felon, Democrat ex-Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich to write an absurd op-ed supporting Trump's victimhood and persecution claims...an comparing Trump to Lincoln! Two months later....voila!....clemency granted by Trump. Of course, the op-ed by a purported Democrat (albeit one behind bars) surely got him on Fox's radar as well. Today Blagojevich is out of jail giving press conferences. It's all sickening.
8
The desire to be worshipped also played a part.
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This is no different than the pardon granted to Mark Rich by President Clinton. As I recall that pardon was granted after Rich’s wife arranged a large donation to the Clinton Library project. Not a great way to grant pardons on any event as then and now there are people more deserving of a pardon than those who actually received them.
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@T Smith
Clinton was terribly corrupt, and that doesn't excuse Trump being 1000% more corrupt.
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@T Smith ...Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich was inappropriate and sleazy. But whataboutism doesn't justify Trump's actions. If it smells, then it smells.
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@T Smith On this I will agree. The power of the pardon should not sit with one person.
8
Of course, it goes without saying, that everybody he pardons or grants clemency to was forced to sign a declaration which gives over their voting rights to Donald Trump and allows him to fill out their ballot plus cast it. Just another quid pro quo in a long line of them!
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The purpose of presidential pardons is to remedy miscarriages of justice. It is part of our constitutional system of checks and balances. It enables the President, as chief of the executive branch, to rein in the excesses and mistakes of the judicial branch.
With the possible exception of the women imprisoned for drug charges, not one of the people pardoned were the victim of overzealous prosecution or judicial misconduct. Milken almost brought our economy to its knees. Blagojevich tried to sell Obama’s vacant senate seat. Kerri has, while NYC’s police commissioner, took massive bribes.
All of these pardons fixed damages to the reputation
of Trump’s buddies. There are many people sitting on death row who were the victims of our prejudiced and damaged judicial system. These are the people who should be beneficiaries of the power to pardon.
Trump is off the rails after his acquittal by the Senate. The knives our out. Meanwhile, McConnell, Barr and Trump’s other republican enablers do nothing.
My only hope is that he will do something so outrageous that even his zombie supporters will turn from him before Election Day. I can hope.
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Wonderful, the swamp needs more like Kerik and Blagojevich. Trump's quest for allies will empty the Federal prisons.
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My first reaction was that this flurry of pardons was an effort by Trump to create some talking points to water down the impact of his eventual pardons of Manafort, Stone etc. He will declare himself the "compassionate, pardoning president" and his followers will by it.
11
Donald Trump, the great crusader against corruption! With the jam of his tweeting fingers he fires those who speak out against abuses of the public trust. And with his pen he pardons his cronies who commit those abuses.
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Umm, it’s call “who you know”. The President has power. The President can bring hostages hime. The President can destroy nations. And yes, sorry to say, the President can subvert justice. Go Trump.
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So many things are broken with our politics in Washington that it’s very difficult to say which one is the worse. Pardons just might be the very worse. Where does it come from? The days of Kings and Queens. Need I say more?
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@Eric Cosh Our founding fathers were brilliant, but they got this one wrong.
4
All criminals will claim they are innocent whether they are living in the Big House or the White House.
So "was driven instead by friendship, fame, personal empathy and a shared sense of persecution."
Trump was inspired by all that and making the world safer for Him and his family.
If criminal behavior is normalized, accepted, and even lauded, than all will be well for them. Remember, Trump even laid it out when He said "when you are rich and famous you can do anything." He meant it and wants to enforce that credo as the new law. "When you are rich and famous you can do anything, but if you are not, watch out! We'll get you!"
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I have no objections to commutations, but pardons shouldn't be based on who you know or how it helps your political future. Nor should they be accomplished by an ad hoc system but rather one based in a fair and reasonable process. We are a democracy, not a monarchy.
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@Dan Trump's unrigourous base doesn't care.
2
Capitalism for the masses, and socialism for the people. That was how the George W. Bush administration responded to its financial debacle. The same here. We the people get charged and prosecuted. The elite, get pardoned for their crimes. There is no rule of law in these United States. There was once a modicum of it. No longer.
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When Gerald Ford pardoned his friend Richard Nixon, a good portion of the country was up in arms. Others saw reasons beyond their close personal attachment. But whatever your point of view, it was clear that having friends in high places was better than having a great legal team. Or following the laws of our country.
Looks like Donald Trump, friend to no one, is trying to make himself a few more 'friends'.
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@KJ ...I think Ford's pardon of Nixon was an action of courage. It necessarily resulted in condemnation of Ford, but it was the right thing to do for the country.
3
@W.A. Spitzer
You can argue logically either way. But they were close friends and Ford did pardon him. Actions like this set a precedent. Trump doesn't think normally and believes he is incapable of crimes, but also believes that he is safe from those who are supposedly 'out to get him' via pardons. That must not happen.
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@W.A. Spitzer Why not let the laws play out in the Nixon case? The pardon is what did Ford in. I liked him and would have voted for him except for that fact.
1
The fact that he did this the day before Roger Stone "who knows to much" gets sentenced is the most telling. Trump is sending a message to him.
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This (copied and pasted below) is a perverse statement given Mr. Trump's treatment of migrants, political opponents and potentially anyone who offends him, his praise of police violence, and too many other atrocities to list. He needs to be stopped. He does not understand that the role of president is not that of an autocratic ruler. Republicans, instead of acting out of fear of reprisal, need to consider the future of the country and the dangerous fires they are stoking.
Mr. Trump’s advisers acknowledged that the process was unique to this president, but stressed that he had become personally committed to countering the excesses of the criminal justice system,
18
Let's not kid ourselves, Trump is just desperate for nominees! Of the 714 key administrative positions requiring Senate confirmation, 169 having no nominee. ;)
11
It's rich that the article gives a disapproving quote from Bill Clinton's pardon attorney. This is the President who pardoned Marc Rich as his term was coming to an end, just because Rich had donated to his campaign. So, enough with the hypocrisy already. Many legal observers had noted for years the unfairness of Milken's conviction, and so his pardon is a good thing.
9
@R.P.
The Riches gave $1 million to the Democratic Party, $450,000 to the Clinton Library, and $100,000 to Hillary’s Senate campaign. He had not completed his sentence or served even a day. He was a wanted fugitive!
4
@R.P. As you point out, Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich (widely condemned) came as the president's term was coming to an end. Trump's pardons come in the midst of a campaign season with him seeking even more donations. I am sure each and every one of the recipients will step up and show their gratitude.
14
No it is not Millken was a scammer bigtime who did short time in minimum security federal prison and was allowed to keep 650 million of his I'll gotten gains.
5
I'm not sure what all the fuss is about a few pardons.....every President has his list of those individuals who everyone questions....."Why did the President pardon that person?"
Trump has his list - and it's undoubtedly going to grow, and President Obama had his list.
Let's start with Oscar Lopez Rivera, the head of the FALN, a terrorist organization which took responsibility for more than 120 bombings - Obama pardoned him. He even tried to escape from prison.
Let's not forget Chelsea Manning, who passed military secrets to WikiLeaks.
In fact, Obama holds the record for the most commutations - more than the last 13 Presidents combined - 330 on his last day in office.
Obama commuted the sentences of Clint Lorance and Matthew Golsteyn who were in prison for war crimes.
Every President has their controversial selections for pardons, Trump is no different.
However, the press manages to highlight the decisions as if there has been no precedent and the pardons are terrible.
Please, give me a break. Go find some real news.
5
@JMS -- Two wrongs do make a right.
1
@JMS ...."In fact, Obama holds the record for the most commutations - more than the last 13 Presidents combined - 330 on his last day in office."..... You ignore the fact that most of Obama's actions were commutations of long sentences handed out for non-violent federal drug convictions, which were in line with on-going criminal justice reform. They were certainly vetted and not handed out as favors to friends and the famous. As with much of what Trump has done the defence is pathetic.
7
Mercy is forgiveness of a wrong. However, Trump thinks fraud, corruption, and tax evasion aren't wrong, but "smart." Mercy is also showing compassion when one has great power. He has not shown mercy to the parents and children separated at the border, to the Central Park Five, even after they were exonerated, to our Kurdish allies in Syria, after they sacrificed 10,000 lives helping us defeat ISIS. He views our military personnel as "killing machines" to be hired out to make a profit for the treasury, not principled warriors who love their country, as Tillerson tried twice to get him to see (per "A Very Stable Genius"). And as Tillerson, among many others, has found out, those who dare to speak about truth and right to him aren't shown mercy; they are "made to go through some things"! Donald the Merciful he is not. As he likes to view those who work for him, let us view him as our "acting" President, to be replaced next January!
40
I'm sure some of Trump's supporters got family or friends in prison who are rotting away. Only problem they got no connections so they will remain in prison then released with felony convictions, and most likely unable to vote, serve on juries, and get a federal or state job. Yet Trump is pardoning those who are well-connected who deserve their sentences. Believe me there will be more to come as long as His Majesty King Trump remains in office.
10
EMZ
Sure..Mr Trump has a loving heart who does not want his friends to be hurt. So let us consider the happy pictures of all these friends returning home to their families to get busy recruiting grateful voters for their friend!
5
With liberty (for my cronies) and justice for my enemies.
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"And the beats goes on"
This commander and chief (and I use the phrase very loosely) is now an enraged, spiteful guy. All the releases of criminals he will contiune to go down a list of remind me of 1980 when I lived in Florida
Castro escalated a confrontation between Washington and Havana and engaged the last exodus of Cubans sending criminals of people to the US.
This is his payback to the Peoples Congress. Stop him. Vote Blue, any shade of Blue.
54
If I committed some of the crimes referenced here, and having no connection to altruistic, fair-minded Trump, I would still be rotting in jail. Simply another example of how justice and law of the land don't apply in the Trump courtroom. Arrogant, disguising abuse of the office but then again, should we expect anything different here?
35
These folks have another thing in common they were represented by the Fox clemency network.
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There are hundreds of thousands of blacks, Hispanics and poor white people languishing in prison for minor drug and immigration offenses. They don't have friends or connections to appeal to you in person. If you really cared about the criminal justice system, you would consider pardoning them.
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@Latif It's not about justice. Trump is just letting criminals buy their way out of jail.
9
Smells swampy to me.
84
Oh yes...open the cells and let all the politically connected criminals walk...what a pitiful evolution for our benighted country. Some are free to flaunt legality and still walk among us...this is the new normal. What 6 year old in kindergarten doesn't know better than this?
15
Trumps whole presidency is playing wack a mole, he thinks he’s taken care of one by firing Vindman over Russian influence only to have Assange raise his head.
9
I suppose Trump extended his mercy, but his act “of mercy” is still not quite as grandiose as Obama’s.
www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/us/politics/obama-commutations-pardons-clemency.amp.html
1
I remember the hue and cry when Marc Rich was pardoned by President Clinton on 20 January 2001. I hope those same huers and criers will object with eleven times the vehemence today.
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@Dan Styer ,,,The pardoning of Marc Rich was inappropriate and sleazy. Whataboutism does not justify Trump's behavior. It is a false argument.
8
Trump is motivated by his disdain for the Justice system.He has installed his own personal fixer as the Attorney General and is on a mission to punish everyone involved in the Mueller probe and in the Impeachment proceedings.He wants to disgrace those who stand for constitutional law and to elevate those who ignore or break the law.He did that by the pardons he passed out this week-he wanted to demonstrate that those who violate the law should not be punished.He suffered the indignity of the Impeachment process and now he is more angry and revengeful-he will elevate lawbreakers and denigrate judges and juries who uphold the law.Constitutional law is under assault!
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What, no pardon for Michael Cohen, Trump’s fixer? Guess that means those campaign finance, tax fraud, and bank fraud charges were justified?
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@T. Rivers No, it means that Cohen called out Trump for what he is, a crook. If Trump could, he would extend Cohen's sentence.
20
@T. Rivers Cohen has too much dirt on Trump, for him to be pardoned.
1
@A
You have this backwards. Having dirt on Trump would be a reason for Trump to pardon Cohen in exchange for silence. Cohen has already spilled the beans; that's why he will not win Trump's favor.
9
Trump pardoned people who were convicted of things he has done...lying, stealing, acting in bad faith. To Trump, they really didn't do anything wrong - "perfect" is what he calls his infamous act. People with integrity who live and uphold the law are weak in his eyes. And, to his "base," who did he pardon who looked like you? He doesn't have your back; he just wants your applause.
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Any previous president would feel constrained by the very personal connections that led to these pardons. Even worthy applicants have been denied pardons by previous presidents simply because of some inadvertent personal connection. Trump lives in opposite-world, where he does what he wants despite any ethical compromise inherent in his actions. I expect many comments to this article to use the word 'disgust', mostly in response to the unworthy recipients of Trump's largesse, but my disgust is at the process by which these unworthy individuals benefitted, i.e., a process rooted in Trump's identification with selfish, wealthy, unethical low-lifes.
33
I'm a Trump supporter so this immediately means it's 100 to 1 here. But have no fear. I believe all the thugs and felons, to a man should all still be in prison. But I ask you all this question: why is Trump ANY different from all the other Presidents who pardoned equally undeserving felons? Answer: there isn't 5 cents of difference amongst them. So, why y'all love to savage Trump on this - and I will too- how is he any different from those other Presidents? NONE.
1
@Patrick Turner so, we simply lower the bar of ethics, honor, and legality a little lower? If WE allow this president, or any future president to become the sole arbiter of truth and justice, do we not, in effect, throw our Constitution on the trash heap? My forefathers didn’t fight in the Revolutionary War to strengthen a king; they fought to destroy him.
9
@Patrick Turner I for one have always complained about presidential pardons, and I am sure I am not alone here. But one thing that makes this different is Trump's overt dangling of pardons to those that defend and support him - everyone knows that he operates in a strictly transactional and self-serving manner. So I do think there is a difference as to how Trump is yielding his power. But no one person should have that power, ever.
8
@Patrick Turner: To paraphrase the first of the Jewish religion's "Four Questions" asked on the first and second nights of their holiday of Passover, "Why is this POTUS different from all other POTUS'?"
The difference is painfully obvious; Trump is morallly bankrupt on all fronts. It's not the quantity of pardons; it's the "quality." Those who Trump either pardoned or had their sentences commuted, are just as corrupt as he is. They have no sense of right and wrong.
The only consolation for the rest of us-if one wants to consider it as such is this; just as Trump was acquitted, he was still impeached, Kerrick, Blagojevich and Miliken were convicted felons; they will live out their lives as convicted felons.
As a Trump supporter, sorry, pal; but that doesn't say much for you.
4
President Trump can do whatever he thinks is the right thing to do as long as it is abided by the laws. Of course, some people within the government may feel neglected or ignored by the president during this pardon. But this is the reality, and we have an unconventional president.
But one thing for sure is that Mr. Trump did consider the effect of this pardon will help him to get reelected.
1
Trump is setting the stage by pardoning people convicted of crimes he will face himself in the courts. In so doing, he hopes his supporters will view his own crimes as insignificant, further normalizing corruption as an ordinary means to personal gain presented as "winning". Meanwhile we're criticizing the leading democratic candidate for proposing a single payer healthcare system that would (finally) improve the lives of everyone in the US. We need to move forward and elect a person of vision and integrity. Of the people, by the people, for the people.
239
@Caroline haven't u heard... good guys finish last. Sadly.
This has become the land of Caesar. All things have, or will, become the desire of the emperor. His supporters will sing his praise, while the poor and disadvantaged forgotten.
11
@Larry Falls And sadly, many of the poor and disadvantaged are his biggest supporters. They believe in him because he talks like a simple man. They want to believe his lies. They like his anger because they are angry. They don't see who he really is. An actor.
10
You couldn’t have said it better. I suspect that a lot of his supporters have family members in jail who will languish there, just because they are poor and have no direct connection to 45. Go figure
Bypassing formal procedures here and breaking laws there.
And we can't get to him, in part because congress stopped working for the people some decades ago.
67
His choice of pardons is quite remarkable. No rhyme or reason to it. A few undesirables and low life’s whose life have been destroyed by their wrong doings. I can’t say these pardons will make any difference in this world. The good people in this world do good things. One can only hope these people feel a sense of wanting to help others who need a second chance. We will see.
14
@Frankm Yay "No rhyme or reason to it"
The article was good enough to explain that the motivation in all cases was to provide favors through his personal network, to increase the power of the network and especially increase support at Fox News, which is similarly empowered. There's nothing random about it.
I would encourage everyone to look behind the curtain. The myth of Trump as deranged and volatile has done more to reduce understanding and resistance than presidential or tweeting powers.
5