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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy Trump Pardoned Dinesh D'Souza--and May Pardon Martha Stewart
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-trump-pardoned-dinesh-dsouzaand-may-pardon-martha-stewartWhy Trump Pardoned Dinesh DSouzaand May Pardon Martha Stewart
By Jeffrey Toobin
6:04 P.M.
Its pardon month in the White House edition of The Apprentice. Jack Johnson got one. Dinesh DSouzas getting one. So might Martha Stewart, and Rod Blagojevich could see his sentence commuted. The case of Alice Marie Johnson might be the season-ending cliffhanger: Will this great-grandmother be freed from a life sentence thanks to the Oval Office advocacy of Kim Kardashian?
The justifications for these actions range from valid (Jack and Alice Johnson, no apparent relation) to cynical (DSouza, Stewart, and Blago), but they serve mostly to illustrate the transactional nature of Donald Trumps Presidency. He has no ideology except self-interest. He doesnt play politics; he plays the angles.
Consider Stewarts case. In 2004, she was convicted of making false statements and related charges in connection with an insider-trading scandal. (She was, by the way, guilty.) She served five months in prison, paid a fine, and in subsequent years has gone back to running a media empire. She also hosted a spinoff of the Apprentice franchise, which bombed, but, as far as we can tell, Trump has no axe to grind with her now. Still, the relevant point about Stewart is that her prosecution was James Comeys most high-profile accomplishment during his tenure as United States Attorney, in Manhattan. Pardoning Stewart is a way of diminishing Comey, who is among Trumps most reviled enemies. Since Stewart has long been out of prison, the pardon will have little practical significance for her, but thats not the point. Punishing Comey is. (Springing Blago, the former Illinois governor who was convicted on public corruption charges, in 2011, and is serving a fourteen-year sentence, offers similar value for Trump. The governor was prosecuted by the former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who also brought a perjury case against Scooter Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice-President Dick Cheney, whom Trump pardoned earlier this year. And Fitzgerald today is one of the lawyers representing Comey, so undoing Fitzgeralds work operates as more score-settling for the President.)
snip//
As for DSouzas pardon, that seems to be little more than a straight payoff to the right-wing base, which has been the focus of Trumps attentions and affections throughout his Presidency. DSouza has long enjoyed a large following as an extreme ideologue and conspiracist; he is infamous for making lunatic accusations against the Clintons and Barack Obama, and for pushing anti-Semitic tropes about the financier and philanthropist George Soros. (In a telling bit of symmetry, Roseanne Barr was also pushing the outrageous Soros allegations.) DSouza was charged in Manhattan federal court with campaign-finance violations, for using straw donors to make campaign contributions to a Republican candidate,in 2014. Notwithstanding DSouzas and now Trumps claims, this was no frivolous prosecution. Indeed, DSouza chose to plead guilty rather than go to trial. He was sentenced to eight months in a halfway house and paid a fine. Still, Trumps pardon allows DSouza to wallow in his martyrdom at the hands of Obamas prosecutorsthe former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whom Trump fired, brought the caseand the President will reap the credit from DSouzas admirers.
For this President, everything is personal. This is why, even more than with most Presidents, we should know the details of his and his familys financial dealings. This is where his personal interests would be most clearly on display. (How, for example, is Trumps sudden interest in saving the ZTE conglomerate in China related to the decision by the Chinese government to award Ivanka Trump several valuable trademarks?) Who are Trumps real business partners? How and where have his business ventures been financed? And what, of course, would we learn if we could see his tax returns? These pardon cases show that the President serves his friends and punishes his enemiesand we need to know, more than ever, who is who.
blogslut
(38,000 posts)You can do it! The law says you can decline a pardon!
babylonsister
(171,065 posts)Cha
(297,221 posts)to be "pardoned" by that pervert.
Martha did her time.. it's over. Why be a part of the Idiot's revenge games?
BigmanPigman
(51,591 posts)Everything is personal to him and that is not how AMERICAN govt is works, or at least until now. He should be fearful because a lot of people are taking it personally and they are very, very angry with him personally. He is lucky to have gotten away with it for so long. His luck will run out.
C_U_L8R
(45,002 posts)Why would he ever pardon two dems like Martha Stewart and Rod Blagojevich?
I suspect that he never intends to.
Knowing that the D'Sousa pardon would stir things up, he dangled these
two Dem pardons with no intention of making them. In fact, why didn't
Trump just pardon them along with D'Sousa ??? Hmmm??
I think the whole thing stinks of stupid narcissistic trump intrigue.
The only way to win is not to play.
Sophia4
(3,515 posts)babylonsister
(171,065 posts)could be he was on The Apprentice from what I've read. They're friends? But I seriously doubt that. Or throwing a middle finger for the hell of it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Blagojevich
Impeachment, removal from office, trialO
Main article: Rod Blagojevich corruption charges
US Marshals photo of Blagojevich on the day of his arrest
Under the direction of US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald,[101] Governor Blagojevich was arrested at his home by federal agents on December 9, 2008, and charged with corruption. The Justice Department complaint alleged that the governor conspired to commit several "pay to play" schemes, including attempting "to obtain personal gain ... through the corrupt use" of his authority to fill Barack Obama's vacated United States Senate seat (as stated, the vacancy was due to Obama's resignation, following election to presidency), claiming that in wiretapped recordings Blagojevich discussed his desire to get something in exchange for an appointment to the seat. After various outreach efforts, he appointed former state attorney general Roland Burris on New Year's Eve 2008. Burris was seated after some initial opposition in mid-January 2009.[102] A trial was set for June 3, 2010,[103] and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald spoke out on the charges,[104] characterizing Blagojevich's actions as trying to auction the open seat off to "the highest bidder".
On January 27, 2009, Blagojevich began a media campaign planned by publicist Glenn Selig. During the two-day campaign, he visited Today, Good Morning America, The Early Show, The View, multiple programs on Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC where he proclaimed his innocence and insisted he would be vindicated. Gates helped craft the "spin" and public relations campaign in effort to sway public opinion.
The Illinois House and Senate moved quickly thereafter to impeach the governor for abuse of power and corruption. On January 8, the Illinois House voted 1141 (with three abstentions) to impeach Blagojevich.[105][106] The charges brought by the House emphasized Blagojevich's alleged abuses of power and his alleged attempts to sell gubernatorial appointments and legislative authorizations and/or vetoes. One of the accusations was an alleged attempt to sell the appointment to the United States Senate seat vacated by the resignation of Barack Obama. Blagojevich was taped by the FBI saying "I've got this thing, and it's fucking golden. I'm just not giving it up for fucking nothing."[107] He was removed from office and prohibited from ever holding public office in the state of Illinois again, by two separate and unanimous votes of 590 by the Illinois Senate on January 29, 2009. Blagojevich's lieutenant governor Patrick Quinn subsequently became governor of Illinois.[108] Blagojevich's impeachment trial and removal from office did not have any effect or bearing on his federal indictment in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, as impeachment is a political, not a criminal, sanction.[109]
babylonsister
(171,065 posts)this is enough reason.
...the relevant point about Stewart is that her prosecution was James Comeys most high-profile accomplishment during his tenure as United States Attorney, in Manhattan. Pardoning Stewart is a way of diminishing Comey, who is among Trumps most reviled enemies.
struggle4progress
(118,282 posts)Call the White House today! Operators are standing by!"