What a naked abuse of the pardon power
Joining torturer Joe Arpaio…
Will be giving a Full Pardon to Dinesh D’Souza today. He was treated very unfairly by our government!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2018
Using the pardon power to dole out transactional favors is an insult and injury to the office of the presidency. It is a breach of the faith of the American people. It is wrong. https://t.co/fKNF1C8FoD
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) May 31, 2018
It is hard to overstate what a naked abuse of the pardon power it is for the president to use it almost exclusively to reward criminal members of his own party.
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) May 31, 2018
Trump’s Dinesh D’Souza pardon today, on top of his pardons of Scooter Libby and Joe Arpaio, make sense only as an elephant-whistle to Michael Cohen & all who know damning things about Trump: protect me & I’ll have your back. Turn on me & your goose is cooked. More obstruction!
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) May 31, 2018
Imagine if Nixon had been waiting with a stack of pardons for his Plumbers to return from the Watergate break-in. A president may not be above the law, but he has the power to put his henchmen above the law. That’s what Trump is telling Manafort & others with the D'Souza pardon.
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) May 31, 2018
.@PreetBharara in 2014 said D’Souza’s illegal campaign contributions was “wilfully undermining the integrity of the campaign finance process…he has had to answer for this crime – here with a felony conviction.” https://t.co/KwDZYyy7P9
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 31, 2018
But hang the Central Park Five…even once they’ve been shown to be innocent of the charges against them. Wait. They weren’t rich, were they? (Or white, but not so relevant here, since D’Souza is Indian).
His base isn’t going to like the headline: “Trump pardons immigrant felon!”
He’s a frigging Renaissance Pope.
“Unlamented, Sixtus IV had achieved nothing for the institution he had headed except discredit.”
Barbara Tuchman, The March of Folly