Another day, another revelation on how the rule of law was used as a doormat and the constitution as a cleaning rag by the former occupant of the White House. Donald Trump has been very vocal the past few days about his plans to pardon all the January 6 rioters should he regain office, claiming that they are “soldiers” “patriots” and “being treated unfairly.” So it won’t surprise you to learn that he had been avidly considering a blanket pardon for his disciples and the only reason he didn’t do it is because he didn’t want Pat Cipollone to walk out the door as had Don McGahn, Gary Cohn and a legion of other lawyers who once worked at the White House until they couldn’t stand it anymore. Politico:
Trump’s consideration of preemptive pardons quickly hit a wall. It was unclear how he could pardon an entire class of people that hadn’t been charged. “You didn’t know who the FBI was going to arrest down the road,” the first adviser said.
At the same time, the White House counsel’s office was forcefully telling Trump what he could not do as president, this person said.
“There was a dangling threat that if he pushed too hard, [White House counsel Pat] Cipollone would leave,” the adviser said. Cipollone declined to comment.
The second adviser said that Trump’s interest in pardoning the participants was like many of the other ideas that he’s floated in the past to a cadre of aides — more brainstorming and soliciting their opinion than deliberately adopting a plan. The person said that while Trump considered the blanket pardon, at the time he was more focused on challenging the election results.
A third adviser who spoke with Trump frequently in the final days before he left office recalled that Trump asked questions about whether he should announce his intention to run again in 2024 before Biden’s inauguration.
“At the time, he wanted to not just be the leader of the party, but flat-out show the world that he’s running again and you’re not going to stop him,” the person said.
And he would have announced on Inauguration Day that he was running again in 2024, for full theatrical effect, but for the pesky fact that such an announcement would trigger concerns about campaign finance regulations and there was no way in hell he was going to lose an opportunity to grift.
The battle lines are clearly drawn at this time and this is as simple as it is: Does the GOP want to continue to embrace all this? Or do they want to hang onto some semblance of adhering to the constitution and the rule of law? Mitch McConnell went on record recently saying that he was not in favor of reducing any of the penalties for lawbreakers from January 6. Will the others follow him or blindly follow Trump? And right now following Trump looks to be a proposition akin to lemmings following one another off the cliff. That said, they did it in 2016, they’ll probably do it again.
I’m pretty sure former guy thought his magic sharpie could write/sign a pardon covering all the insurrectionists before they were charged much like he thought it could influence the path of a hurricane. Former guy is not the sharpest tool in the shed.
He is as he’s been called the Child in Chief.
That unfortunately disparages children. I hang with a black 5 yr old, my adopted daughter is what she calls herself. Trump never has been as smart, sweet, & lovely as she is everyday. If he, & the fucking gop had their way, she’d be auctioned off, & I would kill some fuckingbody. So go ahead u pampered rich excuses for men…try me aholes. This is the goddamn war u asked for…hide mutherfuckers. That’s my advice. Hell is coming for YOU.
I addressed this blanket pardon issue in a comment on another article here a day or two ago. Of course he not only thought about it but discussed actually doing it. I suggested he’d likely wait until just before leaving the WH on the helicopter to sign what he needed to and leave the mess on the Resolute desk. (A “Fuck You” for Biden to find I suppose) It’s just occurred to me why he didn’t do it. It was the second Impeachment. While many in the GOP that were (and probably still are) aghast at what happened on Jan. 6 and expressed shock an/or outrage that day or the day after many were walking that back some “just in case”, trying to play both sides. Sort of retain favor with that Trump base or out of fear that if someone like Lyndsay Graham, Trump Toadie extraordinaire would get attacked at the airport for open criticism THEY would have to deal with far worse.
But for (GOP) Senators in particular the issue was had Trump tried the blanket pardon route, it might have changed things for that second Impeachment trial. And for House members that had voted against Impeachment it could prove problematic when the midterms rolled around – as Murfster keeps pointing out all those conservative soccer moms that didn’t have Trump to vote against in 2018 would turn around and again vote against him by proxy and deliver a solid Democratic majority in not just the House but the Senate. McConnell (and other GOP Senators) were probably shitting bricks about that prospect too.
Issuing a massive, pre-emptive blanket pardon would have generated such outrage not just here but angst and mockery from around the world but more importantly might have caused enough GOP Senators to believe they had the “out” they needed to purge Trump from elective politics. I’d be willing to bet McConnell would have seen this as the Golden Ticket and furiously whipped votes to convict from his caucus.
Perhaps someone got this point across to Trump. Or, being a creature of the “whatever I have to do, whomever I have to throw to the wolves I will do so to ensure my own survival” mold he figured it out for himself. It’s not that big a leap, and frankly I feel pretty goddamned stupid for it taking ME so long to think of it. He knew how bad it would look, and he also knew that as strong support as he had with a LOT of Republicans there were just as many if not more who’s support was very less than enthusiastic. He knew he’d taken over the Party, and all elected Republicans feared his wrath but that plenty wanted him GONE. Out of power and if not out of the picture politically neutered, which a conviction in his second impeachment trial would have done. McConnell might have even allowed a trial to go ahead and have some witnesses get up there with the whole country watching to drive home just how bad Jan. 6 was. It would be a painful lancing of that boil, but would have allowed him and the GOP to start putting Trump in the rearview mirror. He got what he wanted – another tax cut for the rich and those judges and “Justices” he so craved.
We’ll never (probably) know for sure, but I firmly believe Trump didn’t issue that blanket pardon literally on the way out the door because he feared McConnell might use it to get him convicted in a second Impeachment trial. Being Trump, he chose to throw all those rioters under the bus. The same as he’s done all his life to people who he had no more use for or might become a liability.