251–260 of 310 posts
Just yesterday, Trump said he's going to “pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval.” [1] Free reign for crimes for the next 2.5 years. Maybe removing this pardoning power could be a bipartisan goal... I guess we shouldn't hold our breath. [1] https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-promises-pardon-ev...
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One seems to be New York v. Trump, which was a civil lawsuit instead of criminal. The main charge in the case was overstatement of real estate values to secure loans, yet the banks lending the money (mainly Deutsche Bank, if I remember correctly) were sophisticated lenders who were capable of assessing those estimates and the risk of lending. The banks not only did not lose money from the transactions but in fact hap…
> main charge in the case was overstatement of real estate values to secure loans > The banks not only did not lose money from the transactions but in fact happily made money, and they had no complaint about the deals The first part is either a crime, or it is not, regardless of the second? Suppose I falsely say I am worth millions, and then actually win the lottery. It being true later doesn't change whether it was…
If Donald Trump had not run for President, or even had just been a normal President, or maybe even if he’d have done everything he did except for cause January 6, he absolutely would never have been prosecuted for this. The justice system was weaponized against him, even if he was actually guilty, which he surely was.
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That's exactly why my first point was that it was a civil lawsuit brought by the Attorney General, not a criminal case: the underlying overstatement of real estate values was not charged as the crime of fraud, which would have required more proof including proof of intent and actual harm—of which the former would have been hard to prove, and the latter did not exist. The District Attorney (who handles criminal matter…
Crimes that are not known about are frequently not punished. Rubbing it in everyone's face is not a great idea. But, and this is the much more important point you are missing, is the difference between prosecuted for a crime you comitted regardless of how people learnes about it, and using completely unfounded accusations in order to use the prosecution itself as a punishment. Trump has been prosecuted, several times…
I like the concept. I'd love to see more types of data available, especially maybe race, age, connection to the president or their families, donations that the pardoned/commuted people have given and to whom, and more. I'd find that fascinating for seeing deeper patterns.
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The real embarrassment is how little effort there's been to limit/reform the pardon system since then. Pardons have valid uses, but it's wild that a single person can unilaterally pardon donators, family members, former presidents, etc, without needing so much as a simple majority confirmation vote in the House or Senate. The questionable pardons that we've seen over the last few years (and the Nixon pardon) are just…
It’s in the Constitution. There isn’t that much anyone can do.
We have modified the constitution before. It is not easy, sure. But, presidential pardons are being abused so thoroughly that it does warrant people making the effort to change things.
Presidents shouldn't have the right to outright pardon people. It should have to go through some sort of body beforehand and be voted on like everything else.
The Pardon is a structural check on the legislative and judiciary. It cannot be done away with safely without causing massive problems down the road. If anything, this should be a learning experience for the country not to put criminally inclined presidents in office.
If the country didn't learn after the first term, what makes you think they will after the second term?
All signs indicate that the electorate is getting dumber.
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Isn't that the whole point of all these pardon things? To reduce incentives to usurp power to avoid responsibility by providing less destructive for the political system ways to avoid responsibility.
Or concretely, would the Israeli wars end sooner if Netanyahu was pardoned of all crimes? Would Kim Jong Un consider giving up his position if he could be pardoned, or at least credibly believe that he could live a life in luxurious exile? I don’t know the answer to either of those questions, but I do think letting some people get away with crimes with witness immunity can make it much more difficult for criminals to…
The kind of despot that sends assassins against people in exile is unlikely to choose it themselves.
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We should have litigated it then. Nixon should have died in prison. It would have been a good precedent to set
Life in prison for Watergate?
2. They commit an additional concurrent offense of abusing those powers and public trust for crime.
Are there any longer or more generic than this: > For any nonviolent offenses against the United States which they may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1 2014 through the date of this pardon ( JAN 19, 2025 ). https://pardonned.com/pardon/details/biden-family/ That’s 11+ years with no detail or description.