Trump Pardons

[sirazimuth]

I heard Biden was considering Carol Baskin for Secretary Of State.

But only if DIMPOTUS  pardons her for feeding her ex-hubby to the tigers....

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[squatz1]

I would imagine, given what we see of his personality, that Trump will only pardon those he thinks will be able to return the favour somewhere down the line.

Or he could pardon Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, etc so that he could claim that (a) they're criminals and (b) it's very ungrateful of them to proceed with the impeachment anyway.

Yes, I've been reading too many BADecker's posts.

LOL.

....

Yes, I've been reading too many BADecker's posts.

Well you have to admit, how else would we keep up with the in vogue lunatic fringe website links and latest hair brained comical conspiracy theories?

Back on topic...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/17/us/politics/trump-pardons.html

Going to be pardon frenzy tomorrow, news is saying 50-100+ names could be pardoned, commuted, etc tomorrow. Curious on what friends / family of Trump is going to end up being on the list.

Sad thing is that it seems like Edward Snowden isn’t going to be getting a pardon — that’s the only person that Bill Barr preemptively tried to stop - (Here’s the report on it) - https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/1351239845889323014?s=10

Hopefully we’ll see some good names on the list instead of just friends and family. Then again though, usually the list at the end only includes friends/family.

[TwitchySeal]

Any guesses at Ross Ulbrichts odds?

I'd give him a 8% chance at getting on the list.  Really no idea though.

[PrimeNumber7]

Any guesses at Ross Ulbrichts odds?

I would strongly doubt that Ulbricht gets pardoned. Ulbricht allowed people to have greater access to addictive drugs via his Silk Road platform. A major part of the Trump Administration agenda was trying to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the US.

The Lil Wayne pardon is the most hilarious. I have no clue what federal charges he's caught up on, but it sure does explain why he randomly endorsed him for reelection last year.

More likely, Trump pardoning Wayne is payback for the endorsement.

Tucker Carlson on his show tonight called for Trump to pardon Julian Assange, and John Kiriakou, the whistleblower who disclosed the waterboarding of detainees in 2007. The argument for Assange to be pardoned is on 1st amendment grounds, and Kiriakou is on the grounds that he made public information that the public had the right to know that was being kept secret by the intelligence community. Both should be pardoned.

[suchmoon]

Steve Bannon got pardoned. Ulbricht, Assange, Snowden - no.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-executive-grants-clemency-012021/

[TwitchySeal]

Steve Bannon got pardoned. Ulbricht, Assange, Snowden - no.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-executive-grants-clemency-012021/

"We're gonna build the wall and Mexico is gonna pay for it!"

"They'll pay for it later!"

"The military will pay for it!"

"You will pay for it"

"My Chief Strategist will run a charity scam to build the wall, keep your money and then I'll pardon him!"

[sirazimuth]

Steve Bannon got pardoned. Ulbricht, Assange, Snowden - no.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-executive-grants-clemency-012021/

I'm getting a 404 on that link.


Interesting...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MFgy9ve06M

[suchmoon]

I'm getting a 404 on that link.

The site has switched over to the new administration so obviously Biden and his evil witch of a VP are censoring everything... or some low-level tech screwed something up.

Here's the list: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/full-list-trump-s-last-minute-pardons-commuted-sentences-n1254806

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Interesting that several folks who got pardons were sentenced for cannabis smuggling/distribution. Guess times really are a-changin' 

[squatz1]

Steve Bannon got pardoned. Ulbricht, Assange, Snowden - no.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-executive-grants-clemency-012021/

"We're gonna build the wall and Mexico is gonna pay for it!"

"They'll pay for it later!"

"The military will pay for it!"

"You will pay for it"

"My Chief Strategist will run a charity scam to build the wall, keep your money and then I'll pardon him!"

This was like one of the golden things that got him into the White House and nothing ended up happening here and he really didn’t even talk about it.

Most of the conversations regarding it was him saying that it actually was being built and the media was lying about it.

Interesting that several folks who got pardons were sentenced for cannabis smuggling/distribution. Guess times really are a-changin' 

If Trump does run again, he’ll lean on this as a way to get the votes from minority groups and others that have been harshly punished by these drug laws over the years.

Maybe he’ll use this sort of stuff as a key foundation of his Patriot Party, if he ever actually forms that.

[Gyfts]

Steve Bannon got pardoned. Ulbricht, Assange, Snowden - no.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-executive-grants-clemency-012021/

It's a toss up of who's worse - Steve Bannon or the former Detroit mayor that was caught up on racketeering charges - https://www.wxyz.com/news/region/detroit/president-trump-pardons-former-detroit-mayor-kwame-kilpatrick

Guy is the textbook definition of a grifter. Pitiful list by Trump.

I never expected Trump to follow through on pardoning Snowden though. Neocons want to see him droned for some odd reason so they probably tried their hardest to talk Trump out of it, if he was considering it at all. Assange is a Russian stooge, and Ulbricht apparently tried to hire a hitman to kill someone, I'm glad they weren't pardoned.

[Twinkledoe]

Interesting that several folks who got pardons were sentenced for cannabis smuggling/distribution. Guess times really are a-changin' 

And those that are waiting that he will pardon himself, he did not. So interesting what will happen after this? Will there be lawsuits coming after him? Let's see...

The list is quite unexpected but he made up his mind to pardon those individuals. So let's respect his decision.

[PrimeNumber7]

Steve Bannon

Bannon was accused of defrauding Trump's supporters by promising to use money from Trump's supporters to help fulfill Trump's primary campaign promise. Bannon has not had his case heard in court yet, but the pardon was not a good look for Trump. I think this pardon is a sign that Trump is not going to run for President again.

I never expected Trump to follow through on pardoning Snowden though.

Snowden was always an unlikely pardon recipient. There are too many loud voices saying that Snowden went beyond "whistleblower" status and made public some information that harmed the US national security. Snowden applying for Russian citizenship (which means he pledges allegiance to Russia) also did not help his chances of ever receiving a pardon.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Yeah, I'm from the Detroit area and am still dumbfounded at how some rather vocal folks here feel that Kwame Kilpatrick did no wrong and was unfairly punished. The guy is/was as corrupt of a politician as they come...  

[DaveF]

Yeah, I'm from the Detroit area and am still dumbfounded at how many folks here feel that Kwame Kilpatrick did no wrong and was unfairly punished. The guy is/was as corrupt of a politician as they come...  

I'm from Long Island New York. You people are total amateurs when it comes to corrupt public officials.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Mangano

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/crime/burke-beating-sentence-1.29630759

https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/politics-corruption-long-island-2/

But, looking at what is out there on Kilpatrick he was just as corrupt as others out here.

OT a bit but, I would like to see the laws changed a but for public officials convicted of corruption to be changed that all restitution must be paid back to the municipality at 20x damages.
Want to give a contract to your friend at 2x the going rate. Fine. Get caught, no jail you just owe 40x what it was.
Make them think about it. If they can skim a few million and know all they are going to get is a few years in jail and possibly have to pay some of it back, they might do it. Pay 20x back...probably going to force them to think about it a bit more.

-Dave

[DireWolfM14]

Ulbricht, Assange, Snowden - no.

I wanted him to pardon all three, but I was honestly surprised that he didn't pardon Assange.  The way Trump berated the "fake news" media and the DC "swamp" for the last 4 years I suspected he would issue that pardon for no other reason than to slap them in the face with it.  Not to mention that I believe Assange is one of the few honest, unflinching journalists around who is a victim of the powerful elites he exposed.

As for Ulbricht, I'm not convinced that he didn't try to hire an assassin.  The evidence seems to suggest that he tried and got scammed into believing he was successful.  That doesn't make things any better, but at the same time, I think the sentence was on the harsh side given the evidence used to convict him.

Snowden was another that didn't surprise me.  Although I despise what he did, I despise what our government was doing more.  For that I wished for his pardon.  Compare his case to that Chelsea Manning, and it seems like "justice" is just a word used by politicians to bolster their own political ambitions.

The other one I wanted him to consider was McAfee, but no one even mentioned him.  Not surprising, the establishment sees tax evasion as by far the most heinous of all crimes.

[bryant.coleman]

Steve Bannon got pardoned. Ulbricht, Assange, Snowden - no.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-executive-grants-clemency-012021/

So that probably means that Ulbricht will stay behind bars for the rest of his life. Assange/Snowden still have some chance as there are enough mainstream politicians showing their sympathy towards them. Ulbricht's case is different and Trump was probably the only one who could have considered to pardon him. Feels bad, because he's in his 30s and unlike Assange or Snowden, people seems to have completely forgotten his case.

[TwitchySeal]

Steve Bannon got pardoned. Ulbricht, Assange, Snowden - no.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-executive-grants-clemency-012021/

So that probably means that Ulbricht will stay behind bars for the rest of his life. Assange/Snowden still have some chance as there are enough mainstream politicians showing their sympathy towards them. Ulbricht's case is different and Trump was probably the only one who could have considered to pardon him. Feels bad, because he's in his 30s and unlike Assange or Snowden, people seems to have completely forgotten his case.

Agree.

What a depressing day that must have been for him.

I guess his best bet now is that at some point in the next 50 years they decide to reevaluate those serving hard time for non violent crimes.

[Mauser]

Steve Bannon got pardoned. Ulbricht, Assange, Snowden - no.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-executive-grants-clemency-012021/

So that probably means that Ulbricht will stay behind bars for the rest of his life. Assange/Snowden still have some chance as there are enough mainstream politicians showing their sympathy towards them. Ulbricht's case is different and Trump was probably the only one who could have considered to pardon him. Feels bad, because he's in his 30s and unlike Assange or Snowden, people seems to have completely forgotten his case.

Assange and Snowden should both be pardoned. I think if you ask the public if they should be freed than most people would say yes. The general opinion of these two is that they did something good for all of us. They broke the law but not profit of it and rather do some good in the world.