If you’re convicted of perjury, committing tax or bank fraud, aiding election finance crimes, an insurrection, lying to the FBI, rigging an election with foreign help, impeding a Congressional investigation, all of it to help Donald Trump, he’ll pardon you. If you tell the truth, he’ll throw you under a bus.
Shamefully, the Supreme Court overturned existing law and gave presidents permission to dispense pardons in exchange for bribes and to influence testimony. Trump went wild.
Michael Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer and scandal fixer, was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to lying to Congress about hush-money payments and plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. In coming clean though, Cohen spilled all he knew about Trump’s knowledge and involvement in the hush money scheme.
Cohen was handcuffed however and sent back to prison by Trump after refusing to refrain from publishing his tell-all book about Trump, but was released after a federal judge ruled he was “retaliated” against for implicating Trump in the hush money case. No coverup, no pardon.
George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign aide, was sentenced to 14 days in jail and fined nearly $10,000 for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians during the 2016 election. Papadopoulos told federal investigators that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton before joining Trump’s campaign, so they hired him. The lie hindered federal prosecutors from arresting a suspected Russian operative who later fled the country. Mueller’s team wrote that Papadopoulos’ offense was “serious and caused damage to the government’s investigation.” It earned him a Trump pardon, though.
Steve Bannon
Steve Bannon, former chief strategist to Trump, was arrested for allegedly stealing $25 million of donations from hundreds of thousands of supporters who donated to the “We Build the Wall” fundraising campaign. Instead of using the money to support Trump’s border wall, he spent it on home renovations, cosmetic surgery, and a boat. Bannon pleaded not guilty to both counts.
Although Trump distanced himself from Bannon because of an internal dispute, he nevertheless pardoned him during the last days of his presidency because Bannon was a driving force behind Trump’s populist appeal.
Elliott Broidy
Elliott Broidy, one of Trump’s biggest donors, pleaded guilty to attempting to influence the Trump administration to abandon its criminal probe into Jho Low, who was accused of stealing $4.5 billion from the Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund. Broidy admitted receiving millions for his efforts. Nevertheless, Trump pardoned Broidy.
New York Rep. Chris Collins was sentenced to 26 months in prison for securities fraud and lying to the FBI. Fortunately for him, he was the first member of Congress to endorse Trump in 2016 and he continued his support thereafter. Surprise! Trump pardoned him for his loyalty.
Former California Rep. Duncan Hunter was sentenced to 11 months in prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds for his own personal use, including vacations, credit-card payments and sex with several women, and a GOP aide. He also falsified Federal Election Commission reports to cover his tracks. Lucky for him, though, that he endorsed Trump for president in 2016. So, Trump returned the favor by pardoning him just weeks before he was to report to prison.
Allen Weisselberg, the Chief Financial Officer of Trump’s real estate empire for decades, was sentenced to five months in jail for falsely testifying in a New York civil fraud lawsuit against Trump that he had little knowledge of how Trump’s Manhattan penthouse came to be valued on his financial statements at nearly three times its actual size. Telling the truth would have incriminated Trump. Weisselberg’s also entered a plea agreement excuses him from testifying at Trump’s hush money criminal trial – another accommodation to Trump. Trump couldn’t pardon Weisselberg because the crime was a state crime. Worse, he turned on Weisselberg, accusing him of hiding behavior that violated tax laws from the Trumps.
It defies common sense to think that the Founders of the Constitution intended the President to dispense bribes in exchange for testimony or for refusing to testify. But somehow the Supreme Court found a way even though Legal experts have warned that the pardon power is constrained by laws of Congress prohibiting bribery and obstructionof justice. As a result, the president may not issue a pardon in exchange for a bribe. Nor may he issue a pardon to influence or tamper with a witness’s testimony.
