Pardons
given to date and a few pending
(More to come for sure)
Saving the “best for last”
(We suspect)
Background on Presidential Power to Pardon: The pardon power for federal
crimes (Note: Not for state or local crimes) is granted to the President under Article II, Section 2 of the
United States Constitution which states that the President “Shall have power to
grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in
cases of impeachment.”
The Supreme Court has interpreted this language to
include the power to grant pardons, conditional pardons, commutations of
sentence, conditional commutations of sentence, remissions of fines, forfeitures,
respites, and amnesties.
Some Key Historical Pardons:
President Gerald Ford’s pardon
of former President Richard Nixon on September 8, 1974, for official misconduct
which gave rise to the Watergate scandal.
(NOTE: Presidential pardons
may be granted at any time. When Ford pardoned Nixon, Nixon had not yet been
convicted or even formally charged with a crime – but in the face of such,
Nixon resigned).
Andrew Johnson's sweeping
pardons of thousands of former Confederate officials and military personnel
after the American Civil War,
Jimmy Carter's grant of
amnesty to Vietnam-era draft dodgers,
George H. W. Bush's pardons
of 75 people, including six Reagan administration officials accused or
convicted in connection with the Iran–Contra affair,
Bill Clinton's commutation of
sentences for 16 members of FALN in 1999
and his own brother.
George W. Bush's commutation
of the prison term (but not the significant fine) of I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby
was controversial re: the
Valerie Plame CIA agent outing scandal.
NOTE: The DOJ requires that anyone requesting a pardon wait five years after
conviction or release prior to receiving a pardon.
Trump, skated that policy as
he often does and does things on his own.
Further as the article highlights,
this part has made it particularly appealing to Trump, given his penchant for
decisive acts and his evident frustration with the checks and balances that,
for most actions, require a president to share power with Congress and the
federal courts — and potentially be blocked by those other two branches of
government.
Now
this from the LA TIMES vis-à-vis Trump
and his pardons to date or pending/promised:
Since George Washington presidents
have, for the most part, voluntarily accepted restraints on their ability to
pardon. Starting in 1789, government lawyers have been designated to review
pardon applications. And since 1865, presidents have typically relied on a
review by the DOJ before granting clemency.
NOTE: Trump so far, has sidestepped that process.
Of the five people he
has announced pardons for, including D’Souza, just one had a pending clemency
application at the Justice Department: former Navy sailor Kristian Mark
Saucier, who was convicted in 2016 of unauthorized possession of classified
data. Saucier’s case got Trump’s attention because the sailor had used a
so-called Clinton defense to argue that his acts were no worse than Hillary
Clinton’s use of a personal email server when she was secretary of State.
Trump has seemed to act on impulse
or at the urgings of friends and celebrities in making his clemency decisions.
1. Three of his pardons have gone to people backed by his conservative political
allies — D’Souza; Joe Arpaio, the former Maricopa County sheriff; and I. Lewis
“Scooter” Libby, the former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney who was
convicted in 2007 of perjury and obstruction of justice.
2. Actor Sylvester Stallone
lobbied Trump to pardon Jack Johnson, the late African American boxer, who was
convicted in 1913 on charges stemming from his sexual relations with a white
woman.
3. Recently, Kim Kardashian-West
visited Trump at the White House and urged him to pardon a woman sentenced to
life in prison for a nonviolent drug charge, her first offense.
The White House would not say who urged Trump to pardon D’Souza, but
gaining clemency for him has been a cause for Trump confidant Sean Hannity, the
Fox News host, and GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who say D’Souza was targeted for his
caustic, sometimes racist, criticism of President Obama and First Lady Michelle
Obama.
Similarly, Blagojevich’s allies have lobbied extensively for his
14-year sentence to be reduced.
NOTEWORTHY: Another
pattern is that Trump has seemed to favor clemency for people prosecuted by his
nemeses, e.g., D’Souza was prosecuted by Preet Bharara, whom Trump fired as
U.S. attorney in Manhattan.
Stewart’s prosecution was
directed by one of Bharara’s predecessors in that job, James B. Comey, whom
Trump later fired from his job as FBI director.
Blagojevich’s prosecutor was
Patrick Fitzgerald, a friend of Comey’s who also prosecuted Libby.
For Trump, the day’s pardon action began early Thursday, when he
tweeted: “Will be giving a Full Pardon to Dinesh D’Souza today. He was treated
very unfairly by our government!”
D’Souza pleaded guilty in
2014 to campaign finance fraud. Trump did not explain how D’Souza had been
treated unfairly, but the White House,
in a statement, said: “D’Souza was, in the president’s opinion, a victim of
selective prosecution for violations of campaign finance laws.”
The federal judge in the case
decided otherwise in 2014 when D’Souza raised that claim in court, saying
D’Souza had “no evidence” for his contention. At D’Souza’s sentencing, the
judge admonished him, saying, “It is still hard for me to discern any personal
acceptance of responsibility in this case.”
D’Souza admitted to having
illegally used straw donors, including a woman with whom he was having an
affair and who has since become his wife, to contribute to a Republican Senate
candidate in New York in 2012. He was sentenced to five years of probation,
including eight months at a “community confinement center” in San Diego, and
ordered to pay a $30,000 fine.
Bharara denied any political influence
took place, tweeting that “the facts
are these: D’Souza intentionally broke the law, voluntarily pled guilty,
apologized for his conduct & the judge found no unfairness. The career
prosecutors and agents did their job. Period.”
D’Souza fired back in a tweet later in
the day saying that Bharara “wanted
to destroy a fellow Indian American to advance his career. Then he
got fired & I got pardoned.”
My final 2 Cents: D’Souza should have added a string of “smiley faces” to his smug tweet
since that seems to be the routine GOP nasty route, right? Yep, it does (so, I
answer my own question).
Thanks for stopping by.
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