This was only a matter of time. The past month has been a total abuse of the presidential pardon power. Trump’s actions this month, in fact, have made a mockery of one of the few untrammeled and unrestricted presidential privileges — which is why Trump loves to abuse the pardon power. It’s his way of saying, see what a big boy I am? See what kind of bullshit I can pull? I can keep the convicted from paying their debt to society and I can take the guilty who are serving time and put them back on the streets — or in front of the reality TV cameras again.
This is exactly what has happened. Trump pardoned Michele Fiore, a crooked politician in Las Vegas who was convicted of wire fraud, when she misappropriated funds which were intended to honor fallen police officers but went instead to pay her own personal expenses. I am hoping (like many Nevadans) that Fiore is finished in politics but who knows? She may have a cabinet post next. Trump 2.0 is a young administration.
Then there were Todd and Julie Chrisley, a reality TV show couple who just by the by were convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion. They’re pardoned now and going back to reality TV. And no I don’t know why George Santos hasn’t been pardoned yet. I guess he can’t get anybody to come up with the requisite bribe money for Trump. Meanwhile, Jamie Raskin isn’t having any of it and he came out swinging. He wrote a letter to Ed Martin, the administration’s current pardon attorney, and it is one for the books.
I write to ask you to explain the criteria and process you are now using as the United States Pardon Attorney to recommend individuals for a presidential pardon.
As you are undoubtedly aware, the mission of the Office of the Pardon Attorney is to “support second chances through clemency” by reviewing all applications from convicted offenders and making recommendations to the President that are consistent, unbiased, and uphold the “interests of justice.”
Alas, it at least appears that you are using the Office of the Pardon Attorney to dole out pardons as favors to the President’s loyal political followers and most generous donors, completely ignoring and abandoning the thousands of individual applications for clemency.
These Americans depend on your office for a fair shot at a second chance in a process that has some real integrity. The signs are troubling. During your short tenure as Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, you described yourself and the office’s career prosecutors as “President Trumps’ [sic] lawyers.” You used your office to place the President’s allies convicted of political violence and other crimes above the law and to target his imagined enemies, thus endangering public safety in our Nation’s Capital.
It is plain that your office has jettisoned DOJ’s long-established standards for recommending a pardon to the president, as set forth in meticulous federal regulations and Department policy. The traditional standards require that the individual seeking a pardon “has accepted responsibility for his or her criminal conduct and made restitution to its victims” and that five years have passed since they were convicted.
The other traditional factors include: the disparity or undue severity of the criminal sentence; the existence of critical illness or old age; meritorious service to the government that has not been adequately recognized or rewarded by other official actions; the seriousness of the offense of criminal conviction; the applicant’s overall criminal record; the nature of their adjustment to prison supervision; the length of time already served; the availability of other remedies; and candor in the commutation application itself.
None of the cases you have recommended to date appears to have satisfied these standards. Instead, it appears the Administration has abruptly changed the criteria for granting presidential pardons and commutations. The new criteria for granting pardons appear to be: showing absolute personal and political loyalty to President Trump; giving substantial financial contributions to MAGA and the President’s political network; and engaging in forms of political corruption and violence that promote MAGA power and authoritarianism.
Are these indeed the new criteria? Please advise and spell them out clearly.
No way that Martin can do this. The pardon attorney assists the president in the exercise of his or her power under Article II, Section 2, clause 1 of the Constitution. If a dingaling like Martin can spin Article II in such a manner as to rationalize Trump’s current corruption, I would love to hear it. I don’t think we will. A corrupt Supreme Court justice could doubtlessly find a rationale and maybe Clarence Thomas will favor us with such an escapade, but it’s a certainty that this is over Martin’s head.
Your job, as Pardon Attorney, is not to reward convicted defendants who have been politically or financially loyal to the President. It is to do the hard work of reviewing the nearly 8,000 pending petitions of individuals who have actually followed the rules and waited their turn.33 These are people who are depending on your independent and apolitical review for a second chance and relying on your office for a fair shot at securing a presidential pardon. I urge you not to let them—and the American people—down by corrupting the important and unique mission of the Office of the Pardon Attorney.
The pardon attorney is corrupt, the sitting president is corrupt and we have insurrectionists and fraudsters out on the streets because Trump likes them. Or, he has a financial relationship with them, or their release is offensive to decent people and so has a shock value — or a combination of those factors.
Trump loves playing dictator. It’s so much fun. For now. But the fact is, that every day that this level of malfeasance goes on, the closer Trump is to Impeachment III and that may happen after Democrats retake the House. In fact, the way things are going, it would be foolish to suppose that Impeachment III isn’t coming. This abuse of the pardon power alone is a blatant misuse of Article II of the Constitution. In my dreams, I live in a world where Democrats retake both the House and Senate and enough Republican senators find their balls to remove Trump from office. Yes, I know it’s only a dream, but it is a damn satisfying one. And let’s face it, it would be the showstopping number if this farce ended with Impeachment III being a charm.
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Friends, thank you to all who have contributed. You are the wind beneath our wings. If you are able to find a few dollars, and you haven’t donated, we could use it. This has been a tough year and frankly, I don’t expect the shitshow in Washington to start turning around until after the midterms. And anything can happen between now and then. Thanks for all you do. Ursula
In my dreams, Impeachment III could happen. But let’s look on the bright side: if the Democrats have a Blue Tsunami at the midterms, impeachment AND CONVICTION could become a reality. Won’t THAT be a day to celebrate?? How do we get rid of the riser of them, from JD Vance to Stephen Miller to Pam Bonde to the Misfit Cabinet Members. I want a front row seat for THAT event!