Politics - News Analysis
Country in Shock: Trump Promises to Pardon ‘Everyone Involved in Jan. 6th’ if Elected Again
Silly, stupid, Founding fathers.
They thought very seriously about putting some limits on the pardon power, somehow involving Congress, or a judicial panel, something beyond giving the power to one man because – what if it was abused?
The pardon power has been abused, before. Clinton got in a lot of heat for pardoning his brother, who had already served his sentence, and for pardoning Marc Rich – people thought perhaps Clinton had been paid off, at least with respect to his foundation.
But the controversial pardons used to always occur on a president’s last day in office, when all the news was about the new president and one was on their way out of town.
Silly, sad, founding fathers. They never saw Trump coming. (Actually, they very much did, and that’s why they always referred to this as an experiment in self-government, they always knew the wrong leader and wrong movement could bring it down). The Founding Fathers didn’t believe they needed to put any constraints on the pardon power, it would never be abused because – of course, if a president just pardoned a guy who could testify against him in a conspiracy, that president would of course be impeached.
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
That didn’t work. And as if Trump didn’t love the pardon power enough already (the only unlimited power he had), Trump is now already promising to pardon everyone involved in January 6th if he’s elected president again.
Me in my @TheAtlantic newsletter, a week ago:
"I expect that if Trump is reelected, he will pardon everyone involved with January 6."
Trump: https://t.co/7EpcCsGL6J
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 30, 2022
He’s a criminal. And a traitor. And every Republican who supports him is an accomplice.
I’m going to bed. https://t.co/bJHzhFDU6G
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) January 30, 2022
I’ve told you one of the things his MAGA base has been pissed about for a long time is he didn’t pardon the insurrectionists before leaving office. Instead, he sold them to white collar fraudsters and rapper drug traffickers. https://t.co/87zt87sqFT
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 30, 2022
But this is the only platform Trump has. He wants to win power for absolute power’s sake, and thus some of those MAGAs share power with him, the power to own the libs by, well – to start, by pardoning everyone involved in January 6th, whether one was guilty or not.
Twitter is about as angry as I’ve ever seen it:
I don't know because I'm not a lawyer, not a prosecutor, but if I were making a conspiracy case against this guy suggesting he was behind the insurrection, this might come up at trial. https://t.co/gUn40Ylivf
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) January 30, 2022
Trump is doing two things here. He is telling his storm troopers that he will protect them if they commit violent acts. He is also sending a signal to those higherup the food chain that he will protect them so don't cooperate. I think we have seen this before @MuellerSheWrote
— Richard Signorelli (@richsignorelli) January 30, 2022
Trump figured out that his greatest power was the pardon. The only thing that could have stopped his use of it was impeachment / removal from office, and Republicans showed that they would always block it. https://t.co/irI1Fg7rPw
— Bix (@BixJacks) January 30, 2022
The law and order party… Democrats better replay this clip every day until the election. https://t.co/tSJbHt8dRn
— Alex Cole (@acnewsitics) January 30, 2022
I am not a lawyer but pardoning folks who have stated under oath again and again that Trump made them do it goes to intent. Yes? https://t.co/L0gbiQkd0C
— Andrea R MD (@AndreaR9Md) January 30, 2022
This is called obstruction of justice.
He's asking people not to flip in exchange for a potential future pardon.— Ross Wenk 🏴☠️💉💉😷 (@RossWenk) January 30, 2022
Democrats need to use this clip nonstop
— Denise Wu (@denisewu) January 30, 2022
Then he’s admitting what they did was a crime that needs pardoning???
— LB 🍀 (@LuLuu716) January 30, 2022
People may well be ecouraged to commit more crimes for him, but the odds are very low Trump would help anyone that doesn't offer something directly in return.
— Captain Obvious (@MondeBoeuf) January 30, 2022
I'm sure the judges who are considering the sentences for the insurrectionists will love hearing about this.
Why would someone who had nothing to do with the insurrection want to pardon the insurrectionists?
— D Villella ❄️ (@dvillella) January 30, 2022
****
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak
Comments
Comments are currently closed.