The Next Gang of Thieves and War Criminals
Pardonpalooza is kicking up, with Trump pardoning low-level Mueller criminals (Alex Van der Zwaan and George Papadopoulos), corrupt Republican Congressmen (with pardons for early Trump supporters Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins and a commutation for Steve Stockman), and war criminals (the four Nisour Square Blackwater guards, in what is surely a favor for Erik Prince).
This is who Trump is: A man whose biggest legacy as President will be the utter abasement of the Rule of Law.
Do Papadopoulos and/or van der Swan have information that might implicate Individual 1, in the event further investigation goes forward (either in a criminal proceeding or in Congress)?
I ask, of course, because 5th Amendment privilege has gone away.
His legacy could be many things. But as I write there are at least 75 million other Americans who believe in his abasement of the rule of law and wanted/want him to continue abasing for another four years. That includes at least three justices on the Supreme Court.
40 % are religious fundmentalists
But, he DID Make Christmas Eve Great Again, by bold Executive Order. There’s that.
Vladimir Putin is not impressed. From the Guardian:
I can see Trump now, phoning up Mitch McConnell: “Mitch, why can’t you do something useful and pass a bill like this for me to sign?”
Oh, pulllleease…
This moment calls for a Presidential Signing Statement™…
Makes you wonder, “during their lifetime”?
Re trump and resurgent fascism:
After the Dirty War, Argentina (and Chile) passed amnesty laws protecting the criminal architects and participants. These laws were eventually overturned, and today — too many years later! — these pathetic, aged, monsters are still being convicted and imprisoned.
This, coming from Putin at this time, does seem to beg the question…
Is Vlad getting ready to step down, or out, or aside…
Whatever direction someone in his position chooses to go in?
NY Times is reporting:
The depravity is stunning.
While we all know MbS is the one calling the shots in KSA, I’m sure the direct evidence that he contracted the killing is buried in the KSA archives.
Add to that his status as Crown Prince confers some sovereign immunity (though IANAL, so please check) even if he is not yet head of state.
And, he’s pals with Jared which makes everything peachy.
It doesn’t make it right, and I suspect this idea is being floated to torpedo the lawsuit Khashoggi’s fiance is bringing, similar to how DJT tried to kibosh the E. Jean Carroll suit by having AG Barr say he was acting as POTUS.
Weissmann is just going live on MSNBC fyi…
After Van der Zwaarn chitchat,
~ opens quoting ABJ to Manafort re significance of the crime of lying / obstruction.
—
Is anyone tired? I am so fucking tired… these are some straight-up disgusting criminals/ acts, the lot of them.
(Aside, I altered my spelling of Van der Zwaan after seeing that the tag had an ‘r’; naturally this is the first time I noticed it, in time to make an err of it — IDK if tags can be edited, in case you weren’t aware. But back to the point of these unvirtuous louses cleansed, while the Trump-Barr admin at once murders men never so-connected for crimes in their youth…)
Dirty deeds done dirt cheap, for the low low price of America:
Dr. emptywheel: “There’s some overlap between the members of Congress who got multiple clemency petitions granted tonight and those who’ve promised to ignore democracy on January 6.”
https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1341558691942838273
Elie Honig: “The Mueller-related pardons are the *least* unjust and offensive of this batch. Crook GOP Congressmen get second place. War criminals who killed civilians are the worst of the whole group.”
https://twitter.com/eliehonig/status/1341550941028401156
Schooley: “When does Trump get to his posthumous pardon of James Earl Ray?” / Twitter
https://twitter.com/Rschooley/status/1341555633015848960
Van der Zwaan got deported – he isn’t even a US citizen.
Speaking of non-citizen pardons, Firtash’s must be coming in a subsequent batch — unless Barr’s replacement can kill that case (don’t recall where that left off, but Barr wasn’t doing that exit-interview virtue press for nothing. _Some_ kind of wet-work awaits that’s too tawdry for his taste +/- too close to him and his calendar of activities). If Firtash’s case is dispatched with (by whatever means), then folks like Lev might not remember or speak so much, owing to, say, pressing extra-judicial constraints — thus sparing a handful of toxic pardons.
Just entertaining who they could/could not leave out of pardon palooza, and how to batch them, is a bit of a bezoar. Absent (or even with) adequate DOJ-bloodbathing of cases, Rudy’s going to have to be clustered with/near the “loyal innocents”, like the spawn, to mask his associations (unless fits of tweet overtake behind-the-scenes planning, always a possibility). He might even do an “All My Lawyers” or similar episode which includes people who don’t even need pardons! I bet they’ll be pissed.
If we really get 2k-4k stimulus checks, all bets are off and it’s largesse time for everyone, while we sip our hot cocoa in appreciation to dear leader. It’s telling of Trump’s consciousness of his own criminal vulnerability that he wants to appear universally generous, that he (feels he) needs that PR move within which to sink stuff like the pardons closer to his tell-tale heart.
Actually, I just thought of a good self-serving reason Trump would want to send everyone $2,000 now…he’s got that Defend the Election grift going strong right now getting small dollar donations from his peeps. I wonder how much of that largess he thinks he might be able to coerce back out of their hands?
Can we charge him for using Treasury facilities for money laundering? I’ll wait for my check to issue on or after 21 January, then.
Firtash and Parnas, both of whom are allegedly willing to talk and I suspect would be handed over to Vlad’s tender mercies.
Vlad had the novichok put in Navalny’s underwear.
Novichok Undies
Great name for a goth-punk band!
Gives new meaning to tighty whities!
Who put the Novachuk in Mr Navalny’s underwear?
To be sung to the tune of “Who put the benzedrine in Mrs Murphy’s Ovaltine?”
Not to be confused with “Who threw the overalls in Mrs Murphy’s chowder?”
Weissmann had mentioned the pardon of Medicare fraudster Philip Esformes as an e.g. of ‘one of these things is not like the others’. Perhaps Esformes’ champions (see grody list, from Meese to AGAG, in screenshot of WH statement linked below) appealed to Trump’s sense of kinship. Via Miami Herald:
(Emphases added)
Steve Herman: “Miami Beach healthcare mogul Philip Esformes, who was convicted of bribery, kickback and money-laundering charges, has his term of imprisonment commuted by @POTUS. [screenshot, link]” […thread…; next up is another HC fraudster — buddy of Ben Carson’s]
https://twitter.com/W7VOA/status/1341537470463275009
Trump commutes Esformes’ 20-year sentence in massive Medicare fraud case
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article248044835.html
Of course Esformes gets a pardon. What’s wrong with stealing from the government?
A chink in the dam becomes first a dribble, then a stream and finally catastrophic failure.
For the uninitiated, Medicare has lots of restrictions on what you can and can’t do to acquire patients, and a serious no-no is providing compensation to physicians to encourage patients to use a service. If there is no value add by the physician, there can be no incentive paid.
But rules are just for the little people.
He received a commutation.
Perhaps we should start a competition: can you name someone who has been convicted of a crime, or is possibly under investigation, and who has expressed strong support for Trump, that could surely not be under consideration for a pardon at this time?
What comes to mind: Rick Gates – expressed strong support, but ratted out; and Julian Assange for all the reasons Dr. emptywheel has laid out in her many posts. I think Manafort is line for a commutation rather than a pardon. Oh…and the GRU hackers indicted by Mueller.
Wrong on Manafort. Full pardon. We will see what that means in terms of 5th A protections. Same with Stone.
Trmp seems to think that they’re now safe from all prosecutions. I don’t think he understands how pardons work. Or that criminals don’t usually stop criming.
well Putin is a lot smarter than Trump so of course Putin has a better bill.
None of what Trump is doing with pardons ought to surprise the majority of us. there is nothing too low he will not and can not stoop to. I’m just surprised there haven’t been more pardons and for worse offenses. Wonder if El Capo gets out. Now that would be news, the rest of his political associates receiving pardons, no surprise.
when first I read this current EW contribution from Dr. emptywheel/ Marcy, I had tears in my eyes. Not wanting to be the first commenter in such a state, I did other responsibilities; i.e. feed the pets, microwave dinner…
Just by coincidence, was returning to watching “The Lincoln Lawyer” and it struck me the very real danger that criminal defense attorneys encounter; very scary.
What got me teared up was from Twitter, maybe a retweet from Popehat–the Rubicon~~ …”This is what the four Blackwater mercenaries Trump just pardoned did in Iraq. A cold blooded massacre of men, women and children.” … there must have been a link to utube — no f-ing way am I going to look at that!!!!
My meandering point is that Trump is so completely corrupt.
Trump has got to be trading these pardons to **criminals** in exchange for their promises to stand at Trump’s beck and call — be ready to go to battle for Trump!
Let’s debrief them all. They have no 5th amendment protection They can spill their guts for our nation’s security and the American peoples’ right to know what happened.
Tell the truth or face contempt. Lie and get charged for perjury. The new AG should get to the bottom of this.
And the former President will face charges if these pardons can be proven corrupt.
And regarding those Blackwater murderers, I suppose they could be subject for extradition to Iraq? So get out of an American prison and get incarcerated in Iraq.
As much as these four deserve it, that’s not going to happen. We generally have a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the host nations that would detail how this works. It is not unusual for servicemembers to face local justice (i.e. for drug busts in particular, most of the world is rather strict on those charges) when the SOFA permits it. I do not know what SOFA was in effect in Iraq at the time of Nisour Square and whether Blackwater was covered (I suspect it was not).
Nope. That is not going to happen. For all the appropriate consternation about Flynn, this is about 100X worse. Almost unspeakable.
What they did to dozens of Iraqis was unspeakable. Regardless of current agreements or the anticipated outcome, I would encourage the Iraqi Justice Minister to begin writing up an extradition request.
I think you’d have better luck going to the ICC and hope these four turn up in a place willing to extradite them to the Hague. There will probably never be a president willing to extradite a US citizen abroad to face charges, especially to a place where the justice system is not really based upon actual evidence and the ability to challenge the prosecution.
It’s one of the things we tried to hammer into our sailors when in places like Singapore where rowdy behavior is punished (sometime with caning, the number of strokes of the ru-tan is given each day) because Americans think their justice system goes where they do.
Remember the nonsense earlier in DJT’s term when the UCLA players got busted in the PRC for shoplifting and DJT intervened to get them out. That release probably would not happen now. .
I’d say the whole deal is up to the new AG. If he appoints a prosecutor or farms it out to SDNY, there’s enough already.
Trump’s already in deep as “Ind 1” at SDNY, that’s campaign fraud and perjury with his own attorney as a witness against him.
Next, you have Mueller and 10 potential counts of obstruction; the pardons strengthen the case for obstruction, not weaken it. There’s more than criminal reasons to pursue this, there are national security reasons regarding Russian collusion. I’d bet there’s plenty criminality there too. Russia, perhaps Turkey. And don’t forget Ukraine.
Then we have misuse of campaign and 2017 inaugural cash, tax, insurance and financial fraud and whatever business corruption.
So far as the Blackwater murderers, I have no idea whether the SOFA agreement would protect these guys or could be waived. The pardon certainly opens it up. Maybe an extradition will go the USSC, who knows?
Bottomline for all this, if we have an aggressive AG these guys aren’t safe from jail. And don’t think about changing some civil rules trying to reform Presidential Pardons (as been yacked by the talking heads)- if an AG won’t go after a president that used pardons to protect himself criminally, there is not much use of passing a reform law that would only be laughed at by a corrupt president.
I know that the Trumpers will go nuts if Trump is indicted. And it’s quite likely that any trial would end in a hung jury. But there are principles and the rule of law. These crimes are just too obvious to skate.
I suspect some of this may be too dicey for the new AG, who will also have a host of other issues to address.
However, it certainly appears that some of the state AG’s are going to have to figure out which (of the multitude) of crimes to prosecute in any given state. And NY, after almost a year of COVID by February, will probably be in no mood to cut Trumpsters any slack. Ditto other state AG’s, working with governors and crushing budget strain b/c Trump did not ensure that state and local governments are funded.
His criminal exposure upon leaving office may be even greater than we all thought. He knows what’s coming, I guess. His grasping and flailing has gotten so vile and desperate that not even Bill Barr had the stomach for it.
Having the ability to act with impunity is Trump’s greatest desire. It is immensely pleasurable and relieves him of all fear and failing. Abusing the pardon power comes close. More of these will follow. They will be more abusive as he gets closer to becoming unemployed and being evicted.
The restraint imposed by his (real) counselors, to save the best for last, is probably killing him. Or I should say killing America, as he distracts himself with delusions of sedition.
Ya know…The usual grifters and crooks are one thing. But pardoning a convicted murder serving a life sentence is so far beyond vile and contemptible — I struggle for words. Where are all the evangelicals and pro-life folks on these pardons?
probably cheering, because the dead people were “those people”.
Pro-life ends at birth. After that, “Que sera sera.”
Sounds like Trump is trying to pull off a movie plot by releasing all of the criminals, grifters, and murderers who will/have supported him so he can use their skills to overturn the election and declare martial law.
Totally agree!!
Am I alone in thinking Trump is getting kickbacks for these pardons?
Someone should do a spreadsheet with estimated values of each pardon.
From Marcy’s Twitter:
…”Trump would be more likely to pardon him, IMO, if he knew Nader lied to protect the discussions between RU and KSA and UAE during the transition.
And yes, if he pardons Nader WHILE ALSO pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, it would be very much on brand.”
~~~~~~
WOW!
Maxwell’s pardon gotta cost millions.
Trump pardons prior to yesterday’s additions:
Trump said he will pardon them for any laws broken in the process, allegedly telling aides: “Don’t worry, I’ll pardon you.”
This just in: You can add Paul Manafort, Charles Kushner, and Roger Stone to that odious list.
(Stone was just granted a pardon to go with his earlier commuted sentence.)
Some of them are pardons in return for favors received, or protection for Trmp because they know too much about what he’s done.
When Flynn was pardoned Ruth Ben-Ghiat [Historian. Authoritarians, fascism, coups, propaganda. Author of Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present, assesses Trump in this context] wrote:
https://twitter.com/ruthbenghiat/status/1340441025937104896
6:36 PM · Dec 19, 2020
Anyone seeing what “negative to Trump” news is being distracted from with this “joke”* of Presidential pay-offs?
(The Flynn-led military takeover proposal was many hours ago and already buried)
cf. “The Aristocrats” joke.
I remember the days when that joke required a strong stomach. But after 4 years of Trump?
Maybe “the Trump Administration” would be a better punch-line.
Remember when Trump pardoned war-criminal Eddie Gallagher?
This was published at the time:
Rep. Hunter on War-Crimes Suspect Gallagher: I’m Guilty of Same ‘Bad Thing’
https://timesofsandiego.com/military/2019/05/25/rep-hunter-on-war-crimes-suspect-gallagher-im-guilty-of-same-bad-thing/
MAY 25, 2019
There’s more from a discussion we had at Rayne’s post Here:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/05/24/historys-rhyme-part-2-abuse-of-power-sounds-so-familiar/#comment-792185
Hunter, at the time, on military justice system:
Hunter on the civilian criminal justice system:
Also, there’s this:
https://twitter.com/peterwsinger/status/1341803524657721344
12:51 PM · Dec 23, 2020
From Wikipedia, about Hunter’s wife:
So, home confinement until April 2021 and probation until 2024.
Meanwhile, Duncan, pardoned, can crime again.
While Hunter stole “money intended for wounded warriors”,
the family of a nine year old victim DONATED to America’s war-wounded:
https://twitter.com/adamnlawyer/status/1341577554382249997
9:53 PM · Dec 22, 2020
Ordierno’s letter says the gift was “on behalf of the families of fallen American soldiers”.
…does NOT change the point of the comment.
From Ordierno’s letter:
Can an Eric Prince pardon be far off? Pardoned or un-pardoned, there’s a guy I’d like to see in a witness chair taking the Fifth when asked about Trump. Obviously, it’s not going to happen in the Senate, but the House.
Except for the COVID death-toll my money’d be on Biden “looking forward”.
But hundreds of thousands of deaths due to Trump’s deliberate neglect had better tilt the scales the other way.
Unless Biden wants to embed Donald J. Trump’s “Dead Americans are losers and better ignored” attitude.
If Trump walks there is no known bounds on any future President’s criminal acts.
I’ve often snarked that Mueller is a good little Republican.
I wonder what he thinks of these pardons that involve his inquiry.
It’s always so sad to look at folks who have strived to do their best throughout their careers getting shot down by Trump; sometimes just for “flying a little too close.”
Mueller looks a man — of a certain age — as health starts to get away from him; especially now with Covid lurking around every corner.
I find it sad that so many have convinced themselves that Mueller was being “a good little Republican” or even that, while his intentions were good, he “[flew] a little too close” to Trump’s dumpster inferno. Blame obstructionist Barr. Blame Congress — the House, for failing to pick up the ball, and the Senate, for promising to shitcan any attempt to do so.
And yet, while neither Mueller nor Comey (nor McCabe, for that matter) would consider himself to be a doormat, I think that the public perception is that Trump has walked all over them. Unfortunately.
It is clear that Mueller found evidence of Trump’s criminality but was constrained by the Nixon era opinion that a President could not be prosecuted but had to be impeached. Otherwise, there would have been no reason for Barr to both lie about the Mueller report AND prevent its complete release.
The failure of Congress to challenge Barr and Rosenstein and pursue aggressively the full report’s release and impeachment is the failure not Mueller ‘s actions. He did was he was able to do under his authority. Failure to follow up for political reasons by others cannot be a basis for scapegoating Mueller .
It has become clear since Mueller’s team folded up their tents at Barr’s behest that their scope had been restricted by Rosenstein from the start. Rosenstein strikes me as one of those slippery figures who cultivates an unassuming image for the purpose of playing every side of the fence with semi-plausible deniability.
The following poem is three years old, and perhaps could use some updating to make reference to the pardons, but I’d thought I would post it here. Enjoy.
‘Twas The Day After Christmas(2017)
‘Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the House, Not a member was stirring, not a mistress’s blouse. The coffers for campaigns were hung with great care,
Knowing that lobbyists would soon be there. The Senators were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of tax cuts danced in their heads.
And Paul Ryan with his Ayn Rand novel, and Mitch McConnell in his shell Had settled in to survive a possible 2018 Hell.
When on Pennsylvania Avenue there arose such a clitter, It made so much noise, it had to be Twitter.
Away to their iPhones people flew like a bird- Would his words ever make sense, or be something absurd? (The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow reminded The House that health insurance must go!) Then looking on their screens but what should appear But a miniature sleigh, drawn by people quite weird. With a small-handed driver, and his hair in a clump,
They knew in a second, it must be St. Trump. More rapid than a Lamborghini they came And the orange‐haired one, he called them by name: “Now Mnuchin! Now Conway! Now Pruitt and Kelly! On Bannon! On Mike Pence – you look great on the Telly! To the homes of the rich! And to my friends, too! We’re not here for the masses; we’re here for the few!” As people who’re dodging subpoenas may fly, As their legal bills stack all the way to the sky, So on to the millionaires’ houses they flew, With a sleigh full of cash and post-Christmas tweets too! And then in a twinkling, what appeared on TV, But the prancing and pawing by St. Trump in great glee. And faster than Usain Bolt runs a 100 meter dash, Down through the chimneys came boatloads of cash. The cash was all dressed up in bows from Trump U, Tied by St. Trump himself, while at Mar-A-Lago. He held cash in bundles pulled out of large sacks, And he looked like he’d swallowed ten thousand Big Macs. His hair how it twinkled, his dimples quite scary, His cheeks were quite pasty, like some Steven King fairy. His very large mouth chirped away like the birds, Not stopping to think before spitting out words. It was almost as if he was singing a chorus, Saying if we are are rich he will never ignore us.
The stump of a straw he held tight in his lips, He drank sodas galore and ate lots of chips. He had a broad near his face, those are his words not mine, And she shook every which way, which St. Trump said was fine. He was chubby and plump, never worked-out at all, He almost looked Russian, but he was slightly too tall. A wink of his eye and a nod from his head, Convinced all those rich folks they had nothing to dread. And he filled up their stockings, doing his work; Having helped out his rich friends, he turned like a jerk, And waving a finger to the CNN crowd, He flew out the chimney as high as a cloud. He sprung to his sleigh team, and while watching them grovel, He twittered like Scrooge from the Charles Dickens novel.
And he shouted as he went home, and quacked like duck: “Merry Christmas if you’re rich! The rest of you tough luck!
Ggrreaat poem!
Everytime there’s a photo of Trump doing a one arm up closed fist salute:
https://d2eehagpk5cl65.cloudfront.net/img/c800x450-w800-q80/uploads/2020/12/admphotostwo728766-800×450.jpg
He looks like the Japanese Lucky Cat.
Appears Trump has also discontinued the practice of scotch taping his tie…
~~~~~~~
Remember when Trump first took office and there was all the speculation about tanning beds? Turns out it is just junky makeup; this photo shows the normal color of Trump’s skin.
The reference to “a posthumous pardon for James Earl Ray” as being in an upcoming batch of Trump pardons. That’s not funny. But it is exquisite for summing up the thought process exhibited by Trump here.
So where’s The Onion on this? Capone? Hitler? Genghis Khan? Surely there’s no line any more. Oh, and Capone was very badly treated, it was a Witch Hunt, all they could come up with was tax fraud. And for the biggest laugh, Trump himself. There’s “precedent” for that, you know: Mr. Trump has repeatedly stated publicly that the Constitution gives him the absolute right to do that and, you know what, nobody has “established” that he doesn’t (and Art. II says he can do whatever he wants, too), so The President’s unchallenged statements are “precedent” now, they’re “evidence” of truth in the same way that Biden getting millions more votes than Trump is “evidence” of fraud.
Trump’s abuse of the pardon power and this laundry list of vermin that Trump is releasing to spit in the eye of Justice while rewarding his cronies for their sheer sycophancy and their concomitant criminality may end up having one salutary result: absolute verification for the soul of the nation and the annals of history that there is and was nothing decent about that human being. If there aren’t Trumpers scraping bumper stickers off their trucks over the sheer shamelessness of this demonstration of Trump’s vileness now, there will be shortly.
‘Trumper’s scraping bumper stickers off’? Nah, they see the pardons and commutations as a feature, not a bug. For those dyed-in-the-wool MAGAts, they’ll be emboldened to buy a bigger truck and a bigger flag.
Now there are probably some ‘Pubs that held their nose for any number of somewhat justifiable reasons while pulling the Trump lever in the booth, and those are probably throwing up in their mouths as they scrape.
The latter group shouldn’t be conflated with the chest thumping, meeting storming putriots.
That said, I still have little respect for that second group either. To so willingly throw away principles just because there is short term gain to be had is hypocrisy at best.
What principles are “principled conservatives” supposed to stand for, really? White supremacy? Antifeminism? Unsafe workplaces and environmental devastation? Inequality? Hatred of LBGTQ people?
All of the above, with a large dose of corporate welfare!
Yup.
They’re OK with Trump spitting on their relatives who died fighting for America in wars.
Escapees from Nth Korea, having seen their families starved to death, been tortured themselves and seen fellow escapees getting shot, still think that Dear Leader is a great man who was let down by his underlings. Human “reasoning” can be broken in the long term.
I hope the 19+ women who this pervert sexually assaulted over the years finally get their day in court with this deviant, when he leaves the White House!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/5279155002
A re-run of Colbert’s interview w Rachel Maddow (aired last night) highlighted her examination of the balled-up handling of VP Spiro Agnew’s resignation, A complex back story of an arrangement coordinated with Nixon, in exchange for dropping criminal charges against Agnew he agreed to resign. Nixon weighed in, advising the DOJ to grant him the courtesy of not being charged for his separate acts in the Watergate conspiracy, if Agnew were to resign, thus preventing the succession of Agnew to the presidency. What was intended to be a one-time pass, has become the precedent subsequent presidents point to when asserting that “if the President does it, it’s not illegal”… and therefore, are free from being charged. She stated that Mueller referred to this ruling as the basis for his decision not to pursue charges against Trump.
She referenced details of her research in her recent book, co-authored with Michael Yarvitz, “Bag Man, The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-up and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House”
[apologies for being slightly OT]
Is there a better source than the insufferable Maddow and her book promoting friend?
How’s this?
You may not care for her show or style of offering commentary, but in her books she is much more focused and direct.
No. Would you also like to promote a Malcolm Nance novel?
….I found a fairly good review of the book and subject, accompanied by a number of informed comments here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/vice-president-agnews-misdeeds-and-the-challenges-of-holding-him-accountable/2020/12/17/0402018e-29bd-11eb-8fa2-06e7cbb145c0_story.html
— — —
As for other sources….one commenter referenced an earlier study of the Agnew/Nixon events:
“A Heartbeat Away: The Investigation and Resignation of Vice President Spiro T. Agnew” by Richard Cohen and Jules Witcover, published in April 1974.
— — —
a link was provided to the PBS interview w the authors Maddow and Yavitz, titled:
‘Bad Behavior By People In High Office’: Rachel Maddow On The Lessons Of Spiro Agnew”
“Richard Nixon’s first vice president resigned amid charges of bribery and tax evasion. Maddow and Mike Yarvitz revisit Agnew’s story in the podcast (and now book) Bag Man. Originally broadcast in 2019
https://freshairarchive.org/segments/bad-behavior-people-high-office-rachel-maddow-lessons-spiro-agnew-0d
—–
I meant to point out that the book was drawn from her 30 podcasts that featured recordings of the principals speaking
I’m sorry, I was looking for something that was NOT associated with Maddow or her crappy “podcasts”. I am old enough to know the Agnew saga, and do not need the navel gazing Maddow to understand it.
You know, bmaz, I think I see your knee jerking here. You give conservative lawyers more of a break than you do Maddow. You at least are willing to read their stuff before you condemn it.
Feel free to avoid her show, and feel free to knock the actual things she says. But it’s not a good look to simply trash her without considering what she actually dug into in her research here. Not everyone is as old as you and me and lived through it, so maybe the Kids These Days do need to read what she’s saying.
I don’t need to read her book, and sure as hell am not going to listen to her stupid podcasts. I have seen her on TV since she started off as a Tucker Carlson sidekick. So, I am fairly comfortable with the “look” of what I am saying. And I very much hope “the kids these days” find a less preening and navel gazing jackass than Rachel Maddow to read and follow.
She’s one of the very, very few people on television who has honestly and intelligently covered this national dumpster fire. I wasn’t a fan for a long time but I think that she deserves nothing but accolades for what she’s been doing.
Of course, you wouldn’t likely know anything about that, being above it all.
I did reference a work by someone decades earlier
“A Heartbeat Away: The Investigation and Resignation of Vice President Spiro T. Agnew” by Richard Cohen and Jules Witcover, published in April 1974.
Bmaz calling someone insufferable is pretty funny. You know, in a holiday sort of way.
The details about Agnew, his out in front corruption, and the backstory giving rise to such an important precedent are fascinating.
It was hoped that a few others might add a comment on the origins of such an important unofficial guideline.
What I fumbled at articulating; was that the lynch pin undergirding Mueller not pursuing charges against Trump, despite abundant indications warranting it, was this corrupt deal hatched by Nixon with the DOJ…that gets examined by Maddow and Yarvitz…that “you cannot prosecute a sitting president”.
THAT phony precedent neutralized what should have been–would have been a finding of enormous consequence to the country.
Instead we are subjected to gleeful revisionists characterizing the Russian investigation as a “hoax” and a “which® hunt?” and proof that “they found nothing.”
The hope was that better informed contributors posting here might comment, or… if even Dr. Wheeler or Mr Bmaz might take a whack at the backstory and this odious precedent.
Thank you. For those humble, non-lawyer citizens like myself, we just can’t understand why this “memo” thing seems to have the force of law. If a president does do something blatantly criminal while in office, even if it’s something worse than anything Trump did (for the sake of argument), it seems un-American to render them immune.
Trump’s pardons reward bad/unethical/horrific behavior for thieves, co-conspirators and war criminals.
My hope is that with every trump crime exposed we also get an inquiry as to why Pelosi did not do more to counter him.
They should end every story with “Pelosi knew about this on XX/XX/XXXX and did nothing.”
Pelosi didn’t let DJT off the hook as much as the GOP did from the top down.
Start with McConnell, Nunes, RoJo, Gaetz, and Graham first before going after Pelosi
Agree.
Not only did they let. him off the hook, they actively protected him.
Here’s hoping some state AGs figure out why…
While the GOp-T has a majority in the Senate, anything she does will be DOA.
Can Biden ask the UN Security Council to refer the Blackwater miscreants for prosecution by the ICC?
The USA is not a signatory to the International Criminal Court. We have no standing there and the Republicans would go crazy if Biden tried to do what you suggest.
Repubs going crazy is a given.
Which leaves standing as the obstacle. Which could, in theory, be oversome by becoming a signatory.
There are reasons we in the USA have not signed on to the ICC, mostly/officially because (IIRC, and again IANAL) there are procedural differences that make it less likely our citizens would not get a fair trial in the sense that we understand. That, and dodging accountability for what prior administrations have done.
I would have to say that the Republicans have gone crazy already with their utter abdication toTrump and his criminality.
Why would anyone care now if they “go crazy” over something Biden does?
It seems to me that after Trump Biden has a pass on almost anything his conscience would allow.
I’m not sure Trmp would recognize a conscience if it bit him someplace tender.
Biden, on the other hand, does seem to have one.
I understand we’re not a signatory to the Rome Act, but I don’t believe we need to sign on to the Act in order for the ICC to gain jurisdiction–as a non-signatory, the jurisdiction of the ICC is predicated upon a unanimous vote of the UNSC, so we can always veto it. As for “concerns” our citizens may not get a fair trial, I would observe that these guys were already tried and convicted, so I think we can check off that box. I expect there is a laundry list of ramifications that probably include some good reasons not to do it, but I am curious whether it’s an “option.”
Trump also had some very nice things to say about the old game of thieves and war criminals, in his message to Congress explaining why he vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act:
Wait. The traitors for whom these installations are named are far beneath those who serve in the present? Sounds like an argument for renaming, not for holding on to these traitorous names to me.
Moving on . . .
And we bestow honor through these bases by naming them after people who shot, maimed, and killed American soldiers defending the Union? Riiiiiight. But I digress.
You mean politically motivated attempts to justify the Lost Cause, which gave these bases their names and tried to wash away what happened between 1860 and 1865 in the first place? Yeah, that needs to be walked back.
I guess Trump is simply expressing his respect for the 3/5th compromise, the Dred Scot decision, and his disdain for the politically motivated 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.
Continuing the process, it looks like AG Barr also silenced Parnas and Fruman… for a while until now. Parnas is suing because of the way he was arrested trying to fly to the Ukraine with Rudy (who backed out at the last moment). I’d be interested to know if Parnas has a chance here.
https://www.salon.com/2020/12/23/in-new-court-filing-bill-barr-accused-of-arresting-impeachment-witnesses-to-shield-trump/
In other news, Wohl and Burkman have new troubles in NY on top of their issues in MI and OH. AG James wants to talk to them.
https://www.salon.com/2020/12/23/ny-attorney-general-subpoenas-pro-trump-troll-jacob-wohl-for-voter-suppression-scheme/
All I want for Christmas is for the enabler, rupert murdock run out of this country on a rail!!!!!!!
What you said!
Hmmm…would you settle for pardons of Manafort, Stone (commutation not enough!) and Charles Kushner (Jared’s father)?? Just happened…
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/23/949820820/trump-pardons-roger-stone-paul-manafort-and-charles-kushner
Yowser! Just saw that on NY daily news and NY Times!!!
How is Trump going to TOP HIMSELF NOW???
~~~~~~
Dr. emptywheel tweeted earlier today: …”Maybe Congress should just impeach Trump Monday before they vote on the NDAA, so he can’t come back from Mar-a-Lago. It’d be the most epic Reality TV show ending, ever.”…
~~~~~~
**WHAT AN ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC IDEA** Kick Trump’s sorry butt out for good!!!
~~~~~~
BIDEN SHOULD 100% EXPLORE RESCINDING THESE PARDONS.
THERE MUST BE GROUNDS ESTABLISHED THAT THESE PARDONS ARE CORRUPT.
** MAKE NEW LAW **
How will he top himself? Christmas Day pardons for Rudy, Bannon, Barr, Hope, Don Jr., Eric, Ivanka, Jared, . . .
Just as there is no bottom, there is no top.
And…on New Years’ Eve – himself? (That would give 20 days of national “discussion” before he leaves, tho…)
Sorry to inform you, but Rupert Murdock doesn’t live in the US any more, he moved to the UK some time back. I doubt we can even get him extradited to the US for trial. Or rail running, of which I would approve also.
He maintains a rather posh residence in Manhattan. Don’t you recall Bill Barr having stopped in to see him, the day after Parnas and Fruman were arrested?
Its not like it can’t get done.
https://www.afr.com/chanticleer/top-director-tells-packer-bond-tried-to-bribe-me-20201220-p56ozy
And there is plenty more too in other countries. We better find the will, or these creeps will cling. The old man just played Halo of Flies tonight. :-)
OK — this is silly, but just gotta share:
From Twitter: “The Hoarse Whisperer
@TheRealHoarse
Today is William Barr’s last day.
So, I baked him a cake.”…
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ep8SYdUXcAABWex?format=jpg&name=small
After today’s catch (Stone, Manafort, Jared’s dad Charles Kushner), seems like the kids, Jared, and Rudy are the remaining big names. Tons more to follow presumably, but are there other headliners I am missing? Do various cabinet secretaries either need pardons or have the star power of Uday, Qusay, Jarvanka, and Four Seasons?
I’ve been expecting to see Martin Shkreli’s name to appear. On that note:
https://mobile.twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1341059030383538184
Interesting that you mention Pharma Bro, because there was a piece this week about some woman who left her husband to be with Shkreli which sounded an awful lot like a dangle to get pardoned. It would fit the DJT mold: white collar crime and perhaps some money coming his way, wink wink.
I haven’t thought of Shkreli’s name in a couple of years — now he’s all over the media again, probably b/c of his ex-girlfriend. That tweet is funny, tho.
Rosemary Vrablic: Pardon me, but I’m looking forward to early retirement after a swell career serving my wonderful clients at Deutsche Bank (paraphrased, of course.)
Here’s a pardon I hadn’t heard much about before, from Wapo: “President Trump granted a pardon Wednesday to a former Prince George’s County canine police officer who was convicted of a federal civil rights violation for releasing her police dog on an unarmed homeless man in 1995.”… Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/trump-pardons-former-prince-georges-police-officer/2020/12/23/041eb13e-4589-11eb-a277-49a6d1f9dff1_story.html
Trump continues to lash out at the world with his latest round of pardons – and he’s just gotten started. Christmas Eve and Day, New Year’s Eve and Day – and Inauguration Eve and Day – will likely give us further rounds of achingly destructive pardons that amount to two-by-fours shoved into the eyes of American law, justice, and society. It’s part of his attempt to burn the place down.
At least with regard to pardons, a few states might be able to pick up the thread of justice. I would hope this begins to disabuse Joe Biden of any kindly, reach-across-the-aisle thoughts he might have about the man he is about to succeed – and the political party that continues to back him literally to the hilt.
This is about the only thing that gives me comfort in this pardoning of all these criminals. From Professor Timothy Snyder on Twitter: “Timothy Snyder
@TimothyDSnyder
A presidential pardon “carries an imputation of guilt” and its acceptance is a “confession.” Burdick v. United States, 236 U.S. 79 (1915).”
~~~~~~~~
Washington Post did a story about a pardon granted to a police officer who went to prison for 10 years for letting her police dog attack an unarmed homeless man.
Bad news, Tim Snyder is wrong.
Burdick’s assumption about the inerrancy of the legal system – rendered, as it was, at the height of Jim Crow – is charming. Pardons are sometimes issued to the wholly innocent, and to the overcharged and over-penalized, which makes irrational the idea that their issuance and acceptance necessarily implies guilt and a confession of crime. They might equally be an acknowledgement of and apology for a wrong done.
Trump’s pardons, though, are so outside the mainstream and so destructive of normal considerations that politically they are sui generis, a thing unto themselves. They are valid as to the person pardoned, but they ought to subject the issuer to civil and/or criminal sanction.
Because I’m such a slow reader, when I read all the Flynn/Turkey stories, I must not have noticed that Trump & Co. was independently and possibly more involved than Flynn. Since 2012, according to this piece: https://www.courthousenews.com/oligarchs-and-a-multimillion-dollar-lobbying-deal/
Blockbuster thread, the whole damn thing. Bill Barr & FedSoc legacy:
Isaac Arnsdorf:
Eureka, thank you for re-injecting this into the pardon conversation. To me they are vile facets of the same obscene whole: bullying, opportunism and murder rewarded on one hand with just punishments erased, and bullying murder committed opportunistically on the other using the federal death penalty to wipe out those who lack the means and connections to skate on their crimes–and in many cases, the resources (from early support to treatment for mental illness) to resist committing them in the first place.
Yes, they are Unitary ‘pleasures’, and they are perverse.
Can you imagine them, coolly leafing through headshots, selecting who to kill? Because that’s exactly what they did. And the draft selection committee? Wholly premeditated. (Though I do think there must have been some instrumentality or secondary considerations with some of their picks, besides the cruelty-arousal factor — like with the variety-pack pardons of abusers, peppered in with the ones already chosen by 45’s direct associations.)
And then they kill them in sketchy ways guaranteed to cause suffering over a PR look? Sick fucks. That sounds like an enhancement to me.
Speaking of Rosen (as he shifts to the foreground), Barr and the big onion have apparently been the brakes, to date, on his (and allies’) Trump-fulfilling ambitions.
Informative thread by Bill Kristol/his sources’ POV:
If this is any attempt to paint Barr/Cipollone as weary heroes, it obviously fails — so I really just took it as useful information. Barr simply wanted out of the wet-work even too unseemly for him, as I raised above.
So does this mean we should be taking bets on when Cipollone resigns, to leave the worst subjects of pardon palooza in other hands?
Also makes a nice juxtaposition to those screenshots going round of Powell rt’ing screeds against Cipollone.
this is all a sad fucking joke and it’s not funny. The irony is Michael Cohen, of all people, said this would happen. Dave Chappelle told Letterman it was obvious the Russians were exploiting us.
Cyber attacks, covid, corruption on levels unseen before, racial injustices and all the bad guys get a free pass.
America is failing every single one of its tests… we are an F student. How do you explain this to kids that we live in just society when it’s literally not true. It’s just not, it’s rigged.
All you good hearted lawyers should be fucking pissed. Because it’s bad faith lawyers who aren’t held accountable stacking the deck and fucking this country for our kids.
This type of Shit would make Gandhi snap. Our founding fathers would be embarrassed but guess what their dead and not here.
So here is a serious question? How do we fix this? How do we start getting good ideas out to the public, AG’s, congress etc etc
I hope Dr. Wheeler’s ace in the hole post she is saving sets forth a road map because we need something smart, simple and devastatingly clever to rally around and push forward.
Heading into 2021 my hope is that this site besides being a wonderful resource for the dissection of crimes and general fuckery having taken place… can also be a resource guide for what we need to do to change things.
We are up against some unscrupulous devious motherfuckers intent on malice.
My best to all of you. Many blessings and good vibes. Be safe and get ready for 2021… the fight continues and we need to level up for it
bmaz has taken all wind from my sail; wouldn’t it be great to have a mind to mind debate (bmaz v. Snyder) — or is this “settled law”? Cited case was from 1915.
Time will tell and humans have long memories. We remember who the bad apples are.
Nixon was pardoned, never contested, yet was pretty much persona-non-grata to the day he drew his last breath; still is.
Still we must learn from these events. Stone and Manafort have been at this for 40+ years! Right? When I think of Manafort — he always strikes me as being the one with access to the money. Trump may not be returning to the White House!
Speaking of executions,
“The principle of command responsibility is well established in the laws of war, reflecting not only what is morally right, but also the importance of discipline to the accomplishment of the military mission. After the Second World War, a U.S. military tribunal convicted Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita for his troops’ torture and massacre of civilians in the Philippines. There was no evidence that Yamashita ordered or participated in the crimes. It was enough that he either knew or should have known and failed to prevent the atrocities or punish his troops. General Yamashita was executed. ”
https://www.justsecurity.org/64288/can-a-pardon-be-a-war-crime-when-pardons-themselves-violate-the-laws-of-war/