Trump’s story of presidential pardons
It's not about turkeys
George Washington was the first in 1795. After the war of independence, in order to replenish the state’s coffers, he had introduced an excise duty on whisky. This led to the Whiskey Rebellion, which was smothered by the appearance of the US Army alone. Nevertheless, a number of resistance leaders were sentenced to death for treason. Washington pardoned two of them.
The presidential pardon was subsequently incorporated into the US Constitution. The president can grant clemency at his discretion, from a reduced sentence to a full pardon. Donald Trump used that last one this week for former security advisor Michael Flynn, who had promised the Russian ambassador early 2017 that the Trump government would quickly end sanctions against Moscow. He later confessed that he had lied to the FBI about it, which has not yet led to a conviction.
According to The New York Times, the fact that Flynn no longer has to fear prosecution is a sign that there is more in the barrel. Prior to that, Trump dropped the sentence of his former advisor, Roger Stone, who served three years for lying to Congress, obstructing justice and intimidating witnesses. There are several names of candidates: former campaign advisors Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos, convicted of similar crimes to Stone. Former strategist Steve Bannon, charged with misappropriation of campaign funds. Trumps attorney Rudy Giuliani, who allegedly violated lobby law.
Trump is not the only president with controversial pardons at the end of his term of office. Bill Clinton let Patty Hearst go free on his last day. She was kidnapped but later committed a series of armed robberies with her kidnappers. At the end of 1992, George H. W. Bush released the sentence of five fellow party members who had secretly sold weapons to Iran under his predecessor Ronald Reagan. On January 17, 2017, Barack Obama sent ‘Chelsea’ Manning, the former military officer who leaked hundreds of thousands of classified military documents and data to WikiLeaks.
Research Institute Pew Research Center – the American equivalent of the social cultural planning agency-brought the figures this week. There has not been a president since William McKinley (1897-1901) who has applied His merciful law as little as Trump: only 44 times in four years. That included 28 full waivers. Sixteen times it was a plea bargain. Trump accepted the missteps of allies, but also called off the punishment of Alice Johnson. The woman from Memphis got life for her in 1996, turned out to be a modest part in a drug trafficking network. After mediation by TV star Kim Kardashian, Trump signed for her release.
It’s a different picture than Barack Obama’s presidency. In his eight years in the White House, he pardoned no less than 1927 times: 1715 abortions and 212 graces. Only Harry Truman (1945-1953) came close. By the way, the second Obama administration encouraged “petty criminals” to ask for forgiveness and received many such requests.
Trumps ‘ modest position differs from that of Harvard professor Jack Goldsmith at another point. “Almost all of his beneficiaries had a personal or political relationship with the president,” he wrote down this summer Lawfareblog.com there is also the persistent rumor that Trump will pardon himself as a slap in the face.
There is no consensus as to whether this can be done. The president hasn’t been charged with anything yet, but he’s got things hanging over his head: from shady real estate investments and tax fraud to a sexual assault case. When he leaves the White House, he won’t just walk away from it.
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